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NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA, 


OREGON, 


AND   THE 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS 


BY   CHARLES    NORDHOFF, 

AUTHOR   OF 

'CALIFORNIA:    FOR   HEALTH,  PLEASURE,  AND   RESIDENCE,"  &c,  &c. 


NEW    YORK: 
HARPER     &     BROTHERS,    PUBLISHERS, 

FRANKLIN    SQUARE. 

1874. 


• 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1874,  by 

HARPER   &   BROTHERS, 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


TO    MY    FRIENDS, 

MR.  AND    MRS.  HENRY   A.  DIKE, 

OF    BROOKLYN,    N.  Y. 


M77040 


PREFACE. 


r  I  ^HE  favor  with  which  my  previous  volume  on  California  was  received 
by  the  public  induced  me  to  prepare  the  present  volume,  which  con 
cerns  itself,  as  the  title  sufficiently  shows,  with  the  northern  parts  of  Cali 
fornia,  Oregon  (including  a  journey  through  Washington  Territory  to  Vic 
toria,  in  Vancouver's  Island),  and  the  Sandwich  Islands. 

I  have  endeavored,  as  before,  to  give  plain  and  circumstantial  details, 
such  as  would  interest  and  be  of  use  to  travelers  for  pleasure  or  informa 
tion,  and  enable  the  reader  to  judge  of  the  climate,  scenery,  and  natural 
resources  of  the  regions  I  visited ;  to  give,  in  short,  such  information  as  I 
myself  would  like  to  have  had  in  my  possession  before  I  made  the  journey. 

Since  this  book  went  to  press,  Lunalilo,  the  King  of  the  Sandwich  Isl 
ands,  has  died  of  rapid  consumption;  and  his  successor  is  the  Hon.  David 
Kalakaua,  a  native  chief,  who  has  been  prominent  in  the  political  affairs 
of  the  Islands,  and  was  the  rival  of  the  late  king  after  the  death  of  Kame- 
hameha  V.  Colonel  Kalakaua  is  a  man  of  education,  of  better  physical 
stamina  than  the  late  king,  of  good  habits,  vigorous  will,  and  a  strong  de 
termination  to  maintain  the  independence  of  the  Islands,  in  which  he  is 
supported  by  the  people,  who  are  of  like  mind  with  him  on  this  point.  His 
portrait  is  given  on  the  next  leaf. 


KING   KALA.KAUA, 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I.  PAGE 

HONOLULU  AND  THE  ISLAND  or  OAIIU 17 

CHAPTER  II. 

HlLO,   WITH    SOME   VOLCANOES 39 

CHAPTER  III. 
MAUI,  AND  THE  SUGAR  CULTURE 34 

CHAPTER  IV. 
KAUAI,  WITH  A  GLANCE  AT  CATTLE  AND  SHEEP 05 

CHAPTER  V. 
THE  HAWAIIAN  AT  HOME:  MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS 73 

CHAPTER  VI. 
COMMERCIAL  AND  POLITICAL 89 

CHAPTER  VII. 
THE  LEPER  ASYLUM  ON  MOLOKAI  . .  ,99 


NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA: 

ITS    AGRICULTURAL   VALLEYS,  DAIRIES,  FORESTS,  FRUIT- 
FARMS,  ETC. 

CHAPTER  I. 

THE  SACRAMENTO  VALLEY  :  A  GENERAL  VIEW,  WITH  HINTS  TO  TOURISTS  AND  SPORTS 
MEN 109 

CHAPTER  II. 
WINE  AND  RAISINS— PROFITS  OF  DRYING  FRUITS 122 

CHAPTER  III. 
THE  TULE  LANDS  AND  LAND  DRAINAGE 127 

CHAPTER  IV. 
SHEEP-GRAZING  IN  NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA...  ,.  137 


12  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  V.  PAGE 

THE  CHINESE  AS  LABORERS  AND  PRODUCERS 143 

CHAPTER  VI." 
THE  MENDOCINO  COAST  AND  CLEAR  LAKE — GENERAL  VIEW 151 

CHAPTER  VII. 
AN  INDIAN  RESERVATION 162 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
THE  REDWOODS  AND  THE  SAW-MILL  COUNTRY  or  MENDOCINO 170 

CHAPTER  IX. 
DAIRY-FARMING  IN  CALIFORNIA 179 

CHAPTER  X. 
TEHAMA  AND  BUTTE,  AND  THE  UPPER  COUNTRY 184 

CHAPTER  XI. 
TOBACCO  CULTURE— WITH  A  NEW  METHOD  or  CURING  THE  LEAF 192 

CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  FARALLON  ISLANDS 198 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
THE  COLUMBIA  RIVER  AND  PUGET  SOUND— HINTS  TO  TOURISTS ..211 


APPENDIX. 

CONTRIBUTIONS  OF  A  VENERABLE  SAVAGE  TO  THE  ANCIENT  HISTORY  OF  THE  HAWAIIAN 

ISLANDS 229 

NOTES...  ..  255 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE 
MAP  OF  THE  HAWAIIAN  ARCHIPELAGO Frontispiece. 

KING  KALAKAUA 0 

DIAMOND  HEAD  AND  WAIKIKI 17 

HONOLULU — GENERAL  VIEW 18 

HAWAIIAN  HOTEL,  HONOLULU 20 

GOVERNMENT  BUILDINGS,  HONOLULU 22 

ROYAL  SCHOOL,  HONOLULU 23 

COURT-HOUSE,  HONOLULU 24 

MRS.  LUCY  G.  THURSTON 25 

KAWAIAHO  CHURCH — FIRST  NATIVE  CHURCH  IN  HONOLULU 20 

DR.  JUDD 27 

DR.  COAN 27 

BETHEL  CHURCH 29 

DR.  DAMON 29 

QUEEN'S  HOSPITAL,  HONOLULU 30 

NATIVE  SCHOOL-HOUSE  IN  HONOLULU 30 

COCOA-NUT  GROVE,  AND  RESIDENCE  OF  THE  LATE  KING  KAMEHAMEHA  V.,  AT  WAIKIKI, 

OAHU 31 

HAWAIIAN  Poi  DEALER 34 

THE  PALACE,  HONOLULU 35 

EMMA,  QUEEN  OF  KAMEHAMEHA  IV 36 

A  HAWAIIAN  CHIEF 37 

THE  CRATER  OF  KILAUEA — ONE  PHASE 39 

KEALAKEAKUA  BAY,  WHERE  CAPTAIN  COOK  WAS  KILLED 41 

THE  VOLCANO  HOUSE 42 

HAWAIIAN  TEMPLE,  FROM  A  RUSSIAN  ENGRAVING,  ABOUT  1790 44 

LAVA  FIELD,  HAWAII — FLOW  OF  1868 45 

VIEW  OF  THE  CRATER  OF  SOUTH  LAKE  IN  A  STATE  OF  ERUPTION,  FROM  THE  CREST  OF 

THE  NORTH  LAKE. 48 

HILO 49 

SURF  BATHING 51 

LAHAINA,  ISLAND  OF  MAUI 54 


14  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 
CASCADE  AND  RIVER  or  LAVA — FLOW  OF  1869 55 

MAP  OF  THE  HALEAKALA  CRATER 57 

WAILUKU,  ISLAND  OF  MATJI 62 

KEAPAWEO  MOUNTAIN,  KAUAI 65 

CHAIN  OF  EXTINCT  VOLCANOES  NEAR  KOLOA,  ISLAND  OF  KAUAI 66 

WAIALUA  FALLS,  ISLAND  OF  KAUAI 68 

IMPLEMENTS 71 

GRASS  HOUSE 73 

HAWAIIAN  WARRIORS 79 

LUNALILO 81 

KAMEHAMEHA  1 83 

QUEEN  OF  KAMEHAMEHA  1 83 

ANCIENT  GODS  OF  HAWAII 85 

HAWAIIANS  EATING  Poi '. 89 

NATIVE  HAY  PEDDLER . 95 

HULA-HULA,  OR  DANCING-GIRLS 97 

HAWAIIAN  STYLE  OF  DRESS 99 

NATIVE  PIPE 105 

NECKLACE  OF  HUMAN  HAIR 105 

MAP  OF  NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA 108 

A  CALIFORNIA  VINEYARD 109 

WINE  VATS Ill 

TRAINING  A  VINE 113 

A   BOTTLING-CELLAR 115 

INDIAN  RANCHERIA 118 

PIEDRAS  BLANCAS 122 

POINT  ARENA  LIGHT-HOUSE 123 

SHIPPING  LUMBER,  MENDOCINO  COUNTY 127 

A  WATER-JAM  OF  LOGS 129 

MOUNT  HOOD,  OREGON 135 

COAST  VIEW,  MENDOCINO  COUNTY '. 137 

INDIAN  SWEAT-HOUSE 1 39 

ANOTHER  COAST-VIEW,  NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA 143 

A  SAW-MILL  PORT  ON  PUGET  SOUND 146 

CAPE  HORN,  COLUMBIA  RIVER 148 

SAW-MILL *. 151 

WOOD-CHOPPER  AT  WORK 153 

MOUNT  HOOD,  OREGON 158 

INDIANS  SPEARING  SALMON,  COLUMBIA  RIVER 162 

CHINOOK  WOMAN  AND  CHILD...,  165 


ILLUSTRATIONS.  15 

PAGE 

VIEW  ON  THE  COLUMBIA  RIVER 170 

LUMBERING  IN  WASHINGTON  TERRITORY — PREPARING  LOGS 173 

VICTORIA  HARBOR,  VANCOUVER'S  ISLAND 175 

PORT  TOWNSEND,  WASHINGTON  TERRITORY 179 

POINT  REYES 181 

COLUMBIA  RIVER  SCENE 184 

STREET  IN  OLYMPIA,  WASHINGTON  TERRITORY 187 

"TACOMA,"  OR  MOUNT  RAINIER 192 

INDIAN  CRADLE,  WASHINGTON  TERRITORY 195 

RUNNING  THE  ROOKERIES — GATHERING  MURRE  EGGS 198 

LIGHT-HOUSE  ON  THE  SOUTH  FARALLON 200 

ARCH  AT  WEST  END,  FARALLON  ISLANDS 201 

SEA-LIONS 203 

THE  GULL'S  NEST 206 

SHAGS,  MURRES,  AND  SEA-GULLS 207 

CONTEST  FOR  THE  EGGS 208 

THE  GREAT  ROOKERY 210 

INDIAN  GIRLS  AND  CANOE,  PUGET  SOUND 211 

SALEM,  CAPITAL  OF  OREGON... 214 

SEATTLE,  WASHINGTON  TERRITORY 216 

VICTORIA,  BRITISH  COLUMBIA 217 

MAP  OF  PUGET  SOUND  AND  VICINITY 219 

THE  DUKE  OF  YORK 221 

QUEEN  VICTORIA 221 

NANAIMO,  VANCOUVER'S  ISLAND 224 

ANCIENT  HAWAIIAN  IDOL 229 

THE  TARO  PLANT...,                              254 


DIAMOND    HEAD    AND    WAIKIKI. 


NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON, 

AND 

THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

HONOLULU  AND  THE  ISLAND  OF  OAHU. 

r  I  ^HE  Hawaiian  group  consists,  as  you  will  see  on  the  map,  of  eleven  islands, 
-•-  of  which  Hawaii  is  the  largest  and  Molokini  the  smallest.  The  islands 
together  contain  about  6000  square  miles ;  and  Hawaii  alone  has  an  area  of 
nearly  4000  square  miles,  Maui  620,  Oahu  (which  contains  Honolulu,  the  cap 
ital)  530,  and  Kauai  500.  Lanai,  Kahoolawe,  Molokai,  Niihau,  Kaula,  Lehu^, 
and  Molokini  are  small  islands.  All  are  of  volcanic  origin,  mountainous,  and 
Hawaii  contains  the  largest  active  crater  in  the  world — Kilauea — one  of  the 
craters  of  Maun  a  Loa;  while  Maui  contains  the  largest  knewn  extinct  crater, 
Haleakala,  the  House  of  the  Sun — a  pit  thirty  miles  in  circumference  and  two 
thousand  feet  deep.  Maun  a  Loa  and  Mauna  Kea  are  nearly  14,000  feet  high,  as 
high  as  Mount  Grey  in  Colorado  ;  and  you  can  not  ride  anywhere  in  the  islands 
without  seeing  extinct  craters,  of  which  the  hill  called  Diamond  Head,  near 
Honolulu,  is  an  example. 

2 


18  "  ^  NORTHERN  ^CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


The  voyage  from 
San     Francisco      to 
Honolulu     is      now 
very      comfortably 
made  in  one  of  the 
Pacific    Mail    Com 
pany's      steamers, 
which  plies  regular 
ly  between  the  two 
ports,  and   makes   a 
round   trip    once    in 
every  month.      The 
voyage  down  to  the 
Islands    lasts     from 
eight   to   nine  days, 
and  even  to  persons 
subject   to    sea-sick 
ness  is  likely  to  be 
an     enjoyable     sea- 
journey,  because  af- 
ter   the   second   dav 
the     weather     is 
ch ar mingly     w  a  r  m , 
the    breezes    usually 
mild,  and   the   skies 
sunny  and  clear.     In 
forty-eight  hours  af 
ter    you    leave    the 
Golden  Gate,  shawls, 
overcoats,  and  wraps 
are  discarded.     You 
put  on  thinner  cloth 
ing.       After    break 
fast  you  will  like  to 
spread  rugs  on  deck 
and  lie   in   the    sun, 
fanned  by  deliciously 
soft  winds;  and  be 
fore  you   see  Hono 
lulu  you  will,  even  in 
winter,  like  to  have 
an     awning     spread 


HONOLULU  AND  THE  ISLAND  OF  OAHU.  19 

over  you  to  keep  off  the  sun.  When  they  seek  a  tropical  climate,  our  brethren 
on  the  Pacific  coast  have  to  endure  no  such  rough  voyage  as  that  across  the 
Atlantic.  On  the  way  you  see  flying-fish,  and  if  you  are  lucky  an  occasional 
whale  or  a  school  of  porpoises,  but  no  ships.  It  is  one  of  the  loneliest  of 
ocean  tracks,  for  sailing-vessels  usually  steer  farther  north  to  catch  stronger 
gales.  But  you  sail  over  the  lovely  blue  of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  which  has 
not  only  softer  gales  but  even  a  different  shade  of  color  than  the  fierce  At 
lantic. 

We  made  the  land  at  daylight  on  the  tenth  day  of  the  voyage,  and  by  break 
fast-time  were  steaming  through  the  Molokai  Channel,  with  the  high,  rugged, 
and  bare  volcanic  cliffs  of  Oahu  close  aboard,  the  surf  beating  vehemently  against 
the  shore.  An  hour  later  we  rounded  Diamond  Head,  and  sailing  past  Waikiki, 
which  is  the  Long  Branch  of  Honolulu  charmingly  placed  amidst  groves  of 
cocoa-nut-trees,  turned  sharp  about,  and  steamed  through  a  narrow  channel  into 
the  landlocked  little  harbor  of  Honolulu,  smooth  as  a  mill-pond. 

It  is  not  until  you  are  almost  within  the  harbor  that  you  get  a  fair  view  of 
the  city,  which  lies  embowered  in  palms  and  fine  tamarind-trees,  with  the  tall 
fronds  of  the  banana  peering  above  the  low-roofed  houses ;  and  thus  the  tropics 
come  after  all  somewhat  suddenly  upon  you ;  for  the  land  which  you  have 
skirted  all  the  morning  is  by  no  means  tropical  in  appearance,  and  the  cocoa- 
nut  groves  of  Waikiki  will  disappoint  you  on  their  first  and  too  distant  view, 
which  gives  them  the  insignificant  appearance  of  tall  reeds.  But  your  first  view 
of  Honolulu,  that  from  the  ship's  deck,  is  one  of  the  pleasantest  you  can  get : 
it  is  a  view  of  gray  house-tops,  hidden  in  luxuriant  green,  with  a  background 
of  volcanic  mountains  three  or  four  thousand  feet  high,  and  an  immediate 
foreground  of  smooth  harbor,  gay  with  man-of-war  boats,  native  canoes  and 
flags,  and  the  wharf,  with  ladies  in  carriages,  and  native  fruit-venders  in  what 
wrill  seem  to  you  brightly  colored  night-gowns,  eager  to  sell  you  a  feast  of 
bananas  and  oranges. 

There  are  several  other  fine  views  of  Honolulu,  especially  that  from  the  love 
ly  Nuanu  Valley,  looking  seaward  over  the  town,  and  one  from  the  roof  of  the 
prison,  which  edifice,  clean,  roomy,  and  in  the  day-time  empty  because  the  con 
victs  are  sent  out  to  labor  on  public  works  and  roads,  has  one  of  the  finest  sit 
uations  in  the  town's  limits,  directly  facing  the  Nuanu  Valley. 

From  the  steamer  you  proceed  to  a  surprisingly  excellent  hotel,  which  was 
built  at  a  cost  of  about  $120,000,  and  is  owned  by  the  government.  You 
will  find  it  a  large  building,  affording  all  the  conveniences  of  a  first-class  hotel 
in  any  part  of  the  world.  It  is  built  of  a  concrete  stone  made  on  the  spot,  of 
which  also  the  new  Parliament  House  is  composed ;  and  as  it  has  roomy,  well- 
shaded  court-yards  and  deep,  cool  piazzas,  and  breezy  halls  and  good  rooms, 
and  baths  and  gas,  and  a  billiard-room,  you  might  imagine  yourself  in  San 
Francisco,  were  it  not  that  you  drive  in  under  the  shade  of  cocoa-nut,  tama- 


20       NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


HAWAIIAN   HOTEL,  HONOLULU. 


rind,  guava,  and  algeroba  trees,  and  find  all  the  doors  and  windows  open  in 
midwinter;  and  ladies  and  children  in  white  sitting  on  the  piazzas. 

It  is  told  in  Honolulu  that  the  building  of  this  hotel  cost  two  of  the  late 
king's  cabinet,  Mr.  Harris  and  Dr.  Smith,  their  places.  The  Hawaiian  people 
are  economical,  and  not  very  enterprising;  they  dislike  debt,  and  a  consid 
erable  part  of  the  Hawaiian  national  debt  was  contracted  to  build  this  hotel. 
You  will  feel  sorry  for  Messrs.  Harris  and  Smith,  who  were  for  many  years  two 
of  the  ablest  members  of  the  Hawaiian  cabinet,  but  you  will  feel  grateful  for 
their  enterprise  also,  when  you  hear  that  before  this  hotel  was  completed — that 
is  to  say,  until  1871 — a  stranger  landing  in  Honolulu  had  either  to  throw  him 
self  on  the  hospitality  of  the  citizens,  take  his  lodgings  in  the  Sailors'  Home, 
or  go  back  to  his  ship.  It  is  not  often  that  cabinet  ministers  fall  in  so  good  a 
cause,  or  incur  the  public  displeasure  for  an  act  which  adds  so  much  to  the 
comfort  of  mankind. 

The  mercury  ranges  between  68°  and  81°  in  the  winter  months  and  between 
^5°  and  86°  during  the  summer,  in  Honolulu.  The  mornings  are  often  a  little 
Overcast  until  about  half-past  nine,  when  it  clears  away  bright.  The  hottest 
part  of  the  day  is  before  noon.  The  trade-wind  usually  blows,  and  when  it 
does  it  is  always  cool ;  with  a  south  wind,  it  is  sometimes  sultry,  though  the 
heat  is  never  nearly  so  oppressive  as  in  July  and  August  in  New  York.  In 


HONOLULU  AND  THE  ISLAND  OF  OAHU.  21 

fact,  a  New  Yorker  whom  I  met  in  the  Islands  in  August  congratulated  himself 
as  much  on  having  escaped  the  New  York  summer  as  others  did  on  having 
avoided  the  winter. 

The  nights  are  cool  enough  for  sound  rest,  but  not  cold. 

It  is  not  by  any  means  a  torrid  climate,  and  it  has,  perhaps,  the  fewest  daily 
extremes  of  any  pleasant  climate  in  the  world.  For  instance,  the  mercury 
ranged  in  January  between  69°  at  7  A.M.,  75-J0  at  2  P.M.,  and  71-J-0  at  10  P.M. 
The  highest  temperature  in  that  month  was  78°,  and  the  lowest  68°.  Decem 
ber  and  January  are  usually  the  coolest  months  in  the  year  at  Honolulu,  but 
the  variation  is  extremely  slight  for  the  whole  year,  the  maximum  of  the  warm 
est  day  in  July  (still  at  Honolulu)  being  only  86°,  arid  this  at  noon,  and  the  low 
est  mark  being  62°,  in  the  early  morning  in  December.  A  friend  of  mine  resi 
dent  during  twenty  years  in  the  Islands  has  never  had  a  blanket  in  his  house. 

It  is  said  that  the  climate  is  an  excellent  one  for  consumptives,  and  physicians 
here  point  to  numerous  instances  of  the  kindly  and  healing  effect  of  the  mild 
air.  At  the  same  time,  I  suspect  it  must  in  the  long-run  be  a  little  debilitating 
to  Americans.  It  is  a  charming  climate  for  children ;  and  as  sea-bathing  is 
possible  and  pleasant  at  all  times,  those  who  derive  benefit  from  this  may  here 
enjoy  it  to  the  fullest  extent  during  all  the  winter  months  as  well  as  in  the 
summer. 

Of  course  you  wear  thin,  but  not  the  thinnest,  clothing.  White  is  appropri 
ate  to  the  climate ;  but  summer  flannels  are  comfortable  in  winter.  The  air 
is  never  as  sultry  as  in  New  York  in  July  or  August,  and  the  heat  is  by  no 
means  oppressive,  there  being  almost  always  a  fresh  breeze.  Honolulu  has  the 
reputation  of  being  the  hottest  place  on  the  islands,  and  a  walk  through  its 
streets  at  midday  quickly  tires  one ;  but  in  a  mountainous  country  like  this 
you  may  choose  your  temperature,  of  course.  The  summits  of  the  highest 
peaks  on  Hawaii  are  covered  with  almost  perpetual  snow ;  and  there  are  sugar 
planters  who  might  sit  around  a  fire  every  night  in  the  year. 

Unlike  California,  the  Islands  have  no  special  rainy  season,  though  rain  is 
more  abundant  in  winter  than  during  the  summer  months.  But  the  trade- 
wind,  which  is  also  the  rain-wind,  greatly  controls  the  rain-fall;  and  it  is  useful 
for  visitors  to  bear  in  mind  that  on  the  weather  side  of  every  one  of  the  Isl 
ands — that  side  exposed  to  the  wind — rains  are  frequent,  while  on  the  lee  side 
the  rain-fall  is  much  less,  and  in  some  places  there  is  scarcely  any.  Thus  an  in 
valid  may  get  at  will  either  a  dry  or  moist  climate,  and  this  often  by  moving  but 
a  few  miles.  Not  only  is  it  true  that  at  Hilo  it  sometimes  rains  for  a  month 
at  a  time,  while  at  Lahania  they  have  a  shower  only  about  once  in  eighteen 
months  ;  but  you  may  see  it  rain  every  day  from  the  hotel  piazza  in  Honolulu, 
though  you  get  not  a  drop  in  the  city  itself;  for  in  the  Nuanu  and  Manoa  val 
leys  there  are  showers  every  day  in  the  year — the  droppings  of  fragments  of 
clouds  which  have  been  blown  over  the  mountain  summits;  and  if  you  cross 


22       NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

the  Pali  to  go  the  windward  side  of  the  island,  though  you  set  out  from  Hon 
olulu  amidst  brilliant  sunshine  which  will  endure  there  all  day  unchanged,  you 
will  not  ride  three  miles  without  needing  a  mackintosh.  But  the  residents, 
knowing  that  during  the  greater  part  of  the  year  the  showers  are  light  and  of 
brief  duration,  take  no  precautions  against  them ;  and  indeed  an  island  shower 
seems  to  be  harmless  to  any  one  but  an  invalid,  for  it  is  not  a  climate  in  which 
one  easily  "  takes  cold." 

The  very  slight  changes  in  temperature  between  day  and  night  make  the  cli 
mate  agreeable,  and  I  think  useful,  to  persons  in  tender  health.  But  I  do  not 
believe  it  can  be  safely  recommended  for  all  cases  of  consumption.  If  the  pa 
tient  has  the  disease  fully  developed,  and  if  it  has  been  caused  by  lack  of  nutri 
tion,  I  should  think  the  island  air  likely  to  be  insufficiently  bracing.  For  per 
sons  who  have  "weak  lungs"  merely,  but  no  actual  disease,  it  is  probably  a 
good  and  perfectly  safe  climate ;  and  if  sea-bathing  is  part  of  yonr  physician's 
prescription,  it  can,  as  I  said  before,  be  enjoyed  in  perfection  here  by  the  tender- 
est  body  all  the  year  round. 

Honolulu,  being  the  capital  of  the  kingdom,  contains  the  government  offices ; 
and  you  will  perhaps  be  surprised,  as  I  was,  to  find  an  excellent  public  hospital, 


GOVERNMENT   BUILDINGS,   HONOLULU. 


a  reform  school,  and  other  proper  and  well-managed  charities.  When  you  have 
visited  these  and  some  of  the  numerous  schools  and  the  native  churches,  and 
have  driven  or  ridden  to  Waikiki  for  a  sea-bath,  and  have  seen  the  Nnanu  Val 
ley  and  the  precipice  called  the  Pali,  if  you  are  American,  and  familiar  with 
New  England,  it  will  be  revealed  to  you  that  the  reason  why  all  the  country 
looks  so  familiar  to  you  is  that  it  is  really  a  very  accurate  reproduction  of  New 
England  country  scenery.  The  white  frame  houses  with  green  blinds,  the  pick 
et-fences  whitewashed  until  they  shine,  the  stone  walls,  the  small  barns,  the 
scanty  pastures,  the  little  white  frame  churches  scattered  about,  the  narrow 
"  front  yards,"  the  frequent  school-houses,  usually  with  but  little  shade :  all  are 


HONOLULU  AND  THE  ISLAND  OF  OAIIU. 


23 


New  England,  genuine  and  unadulterated ;  and  you  have  only  to  eliminate  the 
palms,  the  bananas,  and  other  tropical  vegetation,  to  have  before  you  a  fine  bit 
of  Vermont  or  the  stonier  parts  of  Massachusetts.  The  whole  scene  has  no 
more  breadth  nor  freedom  about  it  than  a  petty  New  England  village,  but  it  is 
just  as  neat,  trim,  orderly,  and  silent  also.  There  is  even  the  same  propensity 
to  put  all  the  household  affairs  under  one  roof  which  was  born  of  a  severe  cli 
mate  in  Massachusetts,  but  has  been  brought  over  to  these  milder  suns  by  the 
incorrigible  Puritans  who  founded  this  bit  of  civilization. 


KOYAL   SCHOOL,  HONOLULU. 


In  fact,  the  missionaries  have  left  an  indelible  mark  upon  these  islands.  You 
do  not  need  to  look  deep  to  know  that  they  were  men  of  force,  men  of  the  same 
kind  as  they  who  have  left  an  equally  deep  impress  upon  so  large  a  part  of  our 
Western  States;  men  and  women  who  had  formed  their  own  lives  according 
to  certain  fixed  and  immutable  rules,  who  knew  no  better  country  than  New 
England,  nor  any  better  ways  than  New  England  ways,  and  to  whom  it  never 
occurred  to  think  that  what  was  good  and  sufficient  in  Massachusetts  was  not 
equally  good  and  fit  in  any  part  of  the  world.  Patiently,  and  somewhat  rigor 
ously,  no  doubt,  they  sought  from  the  beginning  to  make  New  England  men 
and  women  of  these  Hawaiians ;  and  what  is  wonderful  is  that,  to  a  large  ex 
tent,  they  have  succeeded. 

As  you  ride  about  the  suburbs  of  Honolulu,  and  later  as  you  travel  about  the 
islands,  more  and  more  you  will  be  impressed  with  a  feeling  of  respect  and  ad 
miration  for  the  missionaries.  Whatever  of  material  prosperity  has  grown  up 
here  is  built  on  their  work,  and  could  not  have  existed  but  for  their  preceding 
labors ;  and  you  see  in  the  spirit  of  the  people,  in  their  often  quaint  habits,  in 
their  universal  education,  in  all  that  makes  these  islands  peculiar  and  what  they 
are,  the  marks  of  the  Puritans  who  came  here  but  fifty  years  ago  to  civilize  a 
savage  nation,  and  have  done  their  work  so  thoroughly  that,  even  though  the 


24       NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

v 

Hawaiian  people  became  extinct,  it  would  require  a  century  to  obliterate  the 
way-marks  of  that  handful  of  determined  New  England  men  and  women. 

Their  patient  and  effective  labors  seem  to  me,  now  that  I  have  seen  the  re 
sults,  to  have  been  singularly  undervalued  at  home.  No  intelligent  American 
can  visit  the  islands  and  remain  there  even  a  month,  without  feeling  proud 
that  the  civilization  which  has  here  been  created  in  so  marvelously  short  a 
time  was  the  work  of  his  country  men  and  women;  and  if  you  make  the  ac 
quaintance  of  the  older  missionary  families,  you  will  not  leave  them  without 
deep  personal  esteem  for  their  characters,  as  well  as  admiration  of  their  work. 
They  did  riot  only  form  a  written  language  for  the  Hawaiian  race,  and  painful 
ly  write  for  them  school-books,  a  dictionary,  and  a  translation  of  the  Scriptures 
and  of  a  hymn-book ;  they  did  not  merely  gather  the  people  in  churches  and 


COURT-HOUSE,  HONOLULU. 


their  children  into  schools;  but  they  guided  the  race,  slowly  and  with  immense 
difficulty,  toward  Christian  civilization ;  and  though  the  Hawaiian  is  no  more 
a  perfect  Christian  than  the  New  Yorker  or  Massachusetts  man,  and  though 
there  are  still  traces  of  old  customs  and  superstitions,  these  missionaries  have 
eradicated  the  grosser  crimes  of  murder  and  theft  so  completely,  that  even 
in  Honolulu  people  leave  their  houses  open  all  day  and  unlocked  all  night,  with 
out  thought  of  theft ;  and  there  is  not  a  country  in  the  world  where  the  stran 
ger  may  travel  in  such  absolute  safety  as  in  these  islands. 

The  Hawaiian,  or  Sandwich  Islands,  were  discovered  —  or  rediscovered,  as 
some  say  —  by  Captain  Cook,  in  January,  1778,  a  year  and  a  half  after  our 


HONOLULU  AND  THE  ISLAND  OF  OAHU.  25 

Declaration  of  Independence.  The  inhabitants  were  then  what  we  call  savages 
— that  is  to  say,  they  wore  no  more  clothing  than  the  climate  made  necessary, 
and  knew  nothing  of  the  Christian  religion.  In  the  period  between  1861  and 
1865  this  group  had  in  the  Union  armies  a  brigadier-general,  a  major,  several 
other  officers,  and  more  than  one  hundred  private  soldiers  and  seamen,  and  its 
people  contributed  to  the  treasury  of  the  Sanitary  Commission  a  sum  larger 
than  that  given  by  most  of  our  own  States. 


MKS.   LUCY    6.  TllDRbTON. 


In  1820  the  first  missionaries  landed  on  the  shores  of  these  islands,  and  Mrs. 
Lucy  G.  Thurston,  one  of  those  who  came  in  that  year,  still  lives,  a  bright, 
active  old  lady,  with  a  shrewd  wit  of  her  own.  Thirty-three  years  afterward, 
in  1853,  the  American  Board  of  Missions  determined  that  "the  Sandwich  Isl 
ands,  having  been  Christianized,  shall  no  longer  receive  aid  from  the  Board;" 
and  in  this  year,  1873,  the  natives  of  these  islands  are,  there  is  reason  to  be- 


26       NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


KAWAIAUO   CHUBCUI — FIRST  NATIVE   OUUKOU   IN   HONOLULU. 

lieve,  the  most  generally  educated  people  in  the  world.  There  is  scarcely  a 
Hawaiian — man,  woman,  or  child — of  suitable  age  but  can  both  read  and  write. 
All  the  towns  and  many  country  localities  possess  substantial  stone  or,  more 
often,  framed  churches,  of  the  oddest  New  England  pattern ;  and  a  compulsory 
education  law  draws  every  child  into  the  schools,  while  a  special  tax  of  two 
dollars  on  every  voter,  and  an  additional  general  tax,  provide  schools  and  teach 
ers  for  all  the  children  and  youth. 

Nine  hundred  and  three  thousand  dollars  were  given  by  Christian  people  in 
the  United  States  during  thirty-five  years  to  accomplish  this  result;  and  to 
day  the  islands  themselves  support  a  missionary  society,  which  sends  the  Gos 
pel  in  the  hands  of  native  missionaries  into  other  islands  at  its  own  cost,  and 
not  only  supports  more  than  a  dozen  "  foreign "  missionaries,  but  translates 
parts  of  the  Bible  into  other  Polynesian  tongues. 

Nor  was  exile  from  their  homes  and  kindred  the  only  privation  the  mission 
aries  suffered.  They  came  among  a  people  so  vile  that  they  had  not  even  a 
conception  of  right  and  wrong;  so  prone  to  murder  and  pillage  that  the  first 
Kamehameha,  the  conqueror,  gave  as  excuse  for  his  conquest  that  it  was  neces 
sary  to  make  the  paths  safe;  so  debauched  in  their  common  conversation  that 
the  earlier  missionaries  were  obliged  for  years  rigidly  to  forbid  their  own  chil 
dren  not  only  from  acquaintance  with  the  natives  among  whom  they  lived,  but 


HONOLULU  AND  THE  ISLAND  OF  OAHU. 


even  from  learning  the  native  language,  because  to  hear  only  the  passing  speech 

of  their  neighbors  was  to  suffer  the  grossest  contamination. 
Of  those  who  began  this  good  work 

but  few  now  remain.      Most  of  them 

have  gone  to  their  reward,  having  no 

doubt  suffered,  as  well  as  accomplished, 

much.    Of  the  first  band  who  came  out 

from  the  United  States,  the  only  one 

living  in  1873  is  Mrs.  Lucy  G.  Thurs- 

ton,  a  bright,  active,  and  lively  old  lady 

of  seventy-five  years,  who  drives  herself 

to  church  on  Sundays  in  a  one-horse 

chaise,  and  has  her  own  opinions   of 

passing  events.     How  she  has  lived  in 

the  tropics  for  fifty  years  without  losing 

even  an  atom  of  the  New  England  look 

puzzles  you ;  but  it  shows  you  also  the 

strength  which  these  people  brought 

with   them,  the    tenacity   with    which 

they   clung   to   their   habits   of    dress 

and  living  and  thought,  the  remorseless  determination  which  they  imported, 

with  their  other  effects,  around  Cape  Horn. 

Then  there  was  Dr.  Judd,  who  has  died  since  these  lines  were  written,  who 

came  out  as  physician  to  the  mission, 
and  proved  himself  in  the  islands,  as 
the  world  knows,  a  very  able  man,  with 
statesmanship  for  some  great  emergen 
cies  which  made  him  for  years  one  of 
the  chief  advisers  of  the  Hawaiian 
kings.  It  was  to  me  a  most  touching 
sight  to  see,  on  a  Sunday  after  church, 
Mrs.  Thurston,  his  senior  by  many 
years  but  still  alert  and  vigorous,  tak 
ing  hold  of  his  hand  and  tenderly 
helping  him  out  of  the  church  and  to 
his  carriage. 

And  in  Hilo,  when  you  go  to  visit  the 
volcano,  you  will  find  Dr.  Coan,  one  of 
the  brightest  and  loveliest  spirits  of 
them  all,  the  story  of  whose  life  in  the 


BE.   COAN. 


remote  island  whose  apostle  he  was,  is 
as  wonderful  and  as  touching  as  that  of  any  of  the  earlier  apostles,  and  shows 


28      NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

what  great  works  unyielding  faith  and  love  can  do  in  redeeming  a  savage 
people.  When  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Coan  came  to  the  island  of  Hawaii,  its  shores  arid 
woods  were  populous;  and  through  their  labors  and  those  of  the  Reverend 
Mr.  Lyman  and  one  or  two  others,  thousands  of  men  and  women  were  instruct 
ed  in  the  truths  of  Christianity,  inducted  into  civilized  habits  of  life,  and  final 
ly  brought  into  the  church. 

As  you  sail  along  the  green  coast  of  Hawaii  from  its  northern  point  to  Hilo, 
you  will  be  surprised  at  the  number  of  quaint  little  white  churches  which  mark 
the  distances  almost  with  the  regularity  of  mile-stones ;  if,  later,  you  ride 
through  this  district  or  the  one  south  of  Hilo,  you  will  see  that  for  every 
church  there  is  also  a  school-house ;  you  will  see  native  children  reading  and 
writing  as  well  as  our  own  at  home ;  you  may  hear  them  singing  tunes  famil 
iar  in  our  own  Sunday-schools ;  you  will  see  the  native  man  and  woman  sitting 
down  to  read  their  newspaper  at  the  close  of  day ;  and  if  you  could  talk  with 
them,  you  would  find  they  knew  almost  as  much  about  our  late  war  as  you  do, 
for  they  took  an  intense  interest  in  the  war  of  the  rebellion.  And  you  must 
remember  that  when,  less  than  forty  years  ago,  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Coan  came  to 
Hilo,  the  people  were  naked  savages,  with  but  one  church  and  one  school-house 
in  the  district,  and  almost  without  printed  books  or  knowledge  of  reading. 
They  flocked  to  hear  the  Gospel.  Thousands  removed  from  a  distance  to  Hilo, 
where,  in  their  rapid  way,  they  built  up  a  large  town,  and  kept  up  surely  the 
strangest "  protracted  meeting  "  ever  held ;  and  going  back  to  their  homes  after 
many  months,  they  took  with  them  knowledge  and  zeal  to  build  up  Christian 
churches  and  schools  of  their  own. 

Over  these  Dr.  Coan  has  presided  these  many  years  ;  not  only  preaching  reg 
ularly  on  Sundays  and  during  the  week  in  the  large  native  church  at  Hilo,  and 
in  two  or  three  neighboring  churches,  but  visiting  the  more  distant  churches  at 
intervals  to  examine  and  instruct  the  members,  and  keep  them  all  on  the  right 
track.  He  has  seen  a  region  very  populous  when  he  first  came  to  it  decrease 
until  it  has  now  many  more  deserted  and  ruined  house-places  than  inhabited 
dwellings;  but,  also, he  has  seen  a  great  population  turned  from  darkness  to 
light,  a  considerable  part  of  it  following  his  own  blameless  and  loving  life  as 
an  example,  and  very  many  living  to  old  age  steadfast  and  zealous  Christians. 

On  your  first  Sunday  at  Honolulu  you  will  probably  attend  one  or  other  of 
the  native  churches.  They  are  commodious  buildings,  well  furnished ;  and  a 
good  organ,  well  played,  will  surprise  you.  Sunday  is  a  very  quiet  day  in  the 
Islands :  they  are  a  church-going  people,  and  the  empty  seats  in  the  Honolulu 
native  churches  give  you  notice  of  the  great  decrease  in  population  since  these 
were  built. 

If  you  go  to  hear  preaching  in  your  own  language,  it  will  probably  be  to  the 
Seamen's  Chapel  where  the  Ilev.  Mr.  Damon  preaches — one  of  the  oldest  and 
one  of  the  best-known  residents  of  Honolulu.  This  little  chapel  was  brought 


HONOLULU  AND  THE  ISLAND  OF  OAHU. 


29 


around  Cape  Horn  in  pieces,  in  a  whale-ship  many  years  ago,  and  was,  I  believe, 
the  first  American  church  set  up  in  these  islands.     It  is  a  curious  old  relic, 


BETHEL   OHUEOII. 


and  has  seen  many  changes.  Mr.  Damon  has  lived  here  since  1846  a  most  zeal 
ous  and  useful  life  as  seamen's  chaplain.  He  is,  in  his  own  field,  a  true  and 
untiring  missionary,  and  to  his  care  the  port  owes  a  clean  and  roomy  Seamen's 
Home,  a  valuable  little  paper,  The  Friend,  which  was  for  many  years  the  chief 
reading  of  the  whalemen  who  formerly 
crowded  the  ports  of  Hawaii ;  and  help 
in  distress,  and  fatherly  advice,  and  un 
ceasing  kindness  at  all  times  to  a  mul 
titude  of  seamen  during  nearly  thirty 
years.  The  sailors,  who  quickly  recog 
nize  a  genuine  man,  have  dubbed  him 
"Father  Damon ;"  and  he  deserves, what 
he  has  long  had,  their  confidence  and 
affection. 

The  charitable  and  penal  institutions 
of  Honolulu  are  quickly  seen,  and  de 
serve  a  visit.  They  show  the  care 
with  which  the  Government  has  looked 
after  the  welfare  of  the  people.  The 
Queen's  Hospital  is  an  admirably  kept 
house.  At  the  Reform  School  you  will 
see  a  number  of  boys  trained  and  edu 
cated  in  right  ways.  The  prison  not  only  deserves  a  visit  for  itself,  but  from 


DK.  DAMON. 


30      NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

its  roof  you  obtain,  as  I  said  before,  one  of  the  best  views  of  Honolulu  and  the 
adjacent  country  and  ocean. 

Then  there  are  native  schools,  elementary  and  academic,  where  you  will  see 


QUEEN'S  HOSPITAL,  HONOLULU. 

the  young  Hawaiian  at  his  studies,  and  learn  to  appreciate  the  industry  and 
thoroughness  with  which  education  is  carried  on  all  over  these  islands.  You 

O 

will  see  also  curious  evidence  of  the  mixture  of  races  here ;  for  on  the  benches 
sit,  and  in  the  classes  recite,  Hawaiian,  Chinese,  Portuguese,  half  white  and  half 
Chinese  children ;  and  the  little  pig-tailed  Celestial  reads  out  of  his  primer  quite 
as  well  as  any. 


NATIVE    SCHOOL-HOUSE    IN    HONOLULU. 


In  the  girls'  schools  you  will  see  an  occasional  pretty  face,  but  fewer  than  I 
expected  to  see;  and  to  my  eyes  the  Hawaiian  girl  is  rarely  very  attractive. 


HONOLULU  AND  THE  ISLAND  OF  OAIIU. 


31 


Among  the  middle-aged  women,  however,  you  often  meet  with  fine  heads  and 
large,  expressive  features.  The  women  have  not  [infrequently  a  majesty  of  car 
riage  and  a  tragic  intensity  of  features  and  expression  which  are  quite  remark 
able.  Their  loose  dress  gives  grace  as  well  as  dignity  to  their  movements,  and 
whoever  invented  it  for  them  deserves  more  credit  than  he  has  received.  It  is 
a  little  startling  at  first  to  see  women  walking  about  in  what,  to  our  perverted 
tastes,  look  like  calico  or  black  stuff  night-gowns ;  but  the  dress  grows  on  you 
as  you  become  accustomed  to  it;  it  lends  itself  readily  to  bright  ornamenta 
tion  ;  it  is  eminently  fit  for  the  climate ;  and  a  stately  Hawaiian  dame,  march 
ing  through  the  street  in  black  holaJcu — as  the  dress  is  called — with  a  long 
necklace,  or  le,  of  bright  scarlet  or  brilliant  yellow  flowers,  bare  and  untram- 
meled  feet,  and  flowing  hair,  surmounted  often  by  a  low-crowned  felt  hat,  com 
pares  very  favorably  with  a  high-heeled,  wasp-waisted,  absurdly-bonneted,  fash 
ionable  white  lady. 


COOOA-NUT   GBOVE,  AND  KESIDENCE   OF   THE   LATE   KING   KAME1IAMELIA   V.,  AT  WAIKIKI,  OAIIU. 

As  you  travel  through  the  country,  you  see  not  unfrequently  one  of  the  tall, 
majestic,  large  women,  who  were  formerly,  it  is  said  by  old  residents,  more  nu 
merous  than  now.  I  have  been  assured  by  several  persons  that  the  race  has 
dwindled  in  the  last  half  century ;  and  all  old  residents  speak  with  admiration 
of  the  great  stature  and  fine  forms  of  the  chiefs  and  their  wives  in  the  early 
days.  It  does  not  appear  that  these  chiefs  were  a  distinct  race,  but  they  were 
despotic  rulers  of  the  common  people ;  and  their  greater  stature  is  attributed  by 
those  who  should  know  to  their  being  nourished  on  better  food,  and  to  easier 
circumstances  and  more  favorable  surroundings. 

When  you  have  seen  Honolulu  and  the  Nuanu  Valley,  and  bathed  and  drunk 
cocoa-nut  milk  at  Waikiki,  you  will  be  ready  for  a  charming  excursion — the 
ride  around  the  Island  of  Oahu.  For  this  you  should  take  several  days.  It  is 
most  pleasantly  made  by  a  party  of  three  or  four  persons,  and  ladies,  if  they 


32      NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

can  sit  in  the  saddle  at  all,  can  very  well  do  it.  You  should  provide  yourself 
with  a  pack-mule,  which  will  carry  not  only  spare  clothing  but  some  provisions ; 
and  your  guide  ought  to  take  care  of  your  horses  and  be  able,  if  necessary,  to 
cook  you  a  lunch.  The  ride  is  easily  done  in  four  days,  and  you  will  sleep 
every  night  at  a  plantation  or  farm.  The  roads  are  excellent  for  riding,  and 
carriages  have  made  the  journey.  It  is  best  to  set  out  by  way  of  Pearl  River 
and  return  by  the  Pali,  as  thus  you  have  the  trade-wind  in  your  face  all  the 
way.  If  you  are  accustomed  to  ride,  and  can  do  thirty  miles  a  day,  you  should 
sleep  the  first  night  at  or  near  Waialua,  the  next  at  or  near  what  is  called  the 
Mormon  Settlement,  and  on  the  third  day  ride  into  Honolulu.  If  ladies  are  of 
your  party,  and  the  stages  must  be  shorter,  you  can  ride  the  first  day  to  Ewa, 
which  is  but  ten  miles;  the  next, to  Waialua,  eighteen  miles  further;  the  third, 
to  the  neighborhood  of  Kahuku,  twelve  miles  ;  thence  to  Kahana,  fifteen  miles  ; 
thence  to  Kaalaea,  twelve  miles ;  and  the  next  day  carries  you,  by  an  easy  ride 
of  thirteen  miles,  into  Honolulu.  Any  one  who  can  sit  on  a  horse  at  all  will 
enjoy  this  excursion,  and  receive  benefit  from  it;  the  different  stages  of  it  are 
so  short  that  each  day's  work  is  only  a  pleasure.  On  the  way  you  will  see, 
near  Ewa,  the  Pearl  Lochs,  which  it  has  recently  been  proposed  to  cede  as  a 
naval  station  to  the  United  States  ^and  near  Waialua  an  interesting  boarding- 
school  for  Hawaiian  girls,  in  which  they  are  taught  not  only  in  the  usual  school 
studies,  but  in  sewing,  and  the  various  arts  of  the  housewife.  If  you  are  curi 
ous  to  see  the  high  valley  in  which  the  famous  Waialua  oranges  are  grown,  you 
must  take  a  day  for  that  purpose.  Between  Kahuku  and  Kahana  it  is  worth 
while  to  make  a  detour  into  the  mountains  to  see  the  Kaliawa  Falls,  which  are 
a  very  picturesque  sight.  The  rock,  at  a  height  of  several  hundred  feet,  has 
been  curiously  worn  by  the  water  into  the  shape  of  a  canoe.  Here,  also,  the 
precipitous  walls  are  covered  with  masses  of  fine  ferns.  At  Kahana,  and  also 
at  Koloa,  you  will  see  rice-fields,  which  are  cultivated  by  Chinese.  You  pass 
also  on  your  road  several  sugar-plantations ;  and  if  it  is  the  season  of  sugar- 
boiling,  you  will  be  interested  in  this  process.  For  miles  you  ride  along  the 
sea-shore,  and  your  guide  will  lead  you  to  proper  places  for  a  midday  bath, 
preliminary  to  your  lunch. 

After  leaving  the  Mormon  Settlement,  the  scenery  becomes  very  grand — it  is, 
indeed,  as  fine  as  any  on  the  Islands,  and  compares  well  with  any  scenery  in  the 
world.  That  it  can  be  seen  without  severe  toil  gives  it,  for  such  people  as  my 
self,  no  slight  advantage  over  some  other  scenery  in  these  Islands  and  elsewhere, 
access  to  which  can  be  gained  only  by  toilsome  and  disagreeable  journeys. 
There  is  a  blending  of  sea  and  mountain  which  will  dwell  in  your  memory  as 
not  oppressively  grand,  and  yet  fine  enough  to  make  you  thankful  that  Provi 
dence  has  made  the  world  so  lovely  and  fair. 

As  you  approach  the  Pali,  the  mountain  becomes  a  sheer  precipice  for  some 
miles,  broken  only  by  the  gorge  of  the  Pali,  up  which,  if  you  are  prudent,  you 


HONOLULU  AND  THE  ISLAND  OF  OAHU.  33 

will  walk,  letting  your  horses  follow  with  the  guide — though  Hawaiian  horse 
men  ride  both  up  and  down,  and  have  been  known  to  gallop  down  the  stone- 
paved  and  slippery  steep.  As  you  look  up  at  these  tall,  gloomy  precipices,  you 
will  see  one  of  the  peculiarities  of  a  Sandwich  Island  landscape.  The  rocks  are 
not  bare,  but  covered  from  crown  to  base  with  moss  and  ferns ;  and  these  cling 
so  closely  to  the  surface  that  to  your  eye  they  seem  to  be  but  a  short,  close-tex 
tured  green  fuzz.  In  fact,  these  great  rocks,  thus  adorned,  reminded  me  con 
stantly  of  the  rock  scenery  in  such  operas  as  Fra  Diavolo ;  the  dark  green  be 
ing  of  a  shade  which  I  do  not  remember  to  have  seen  before  in  nature,  though 
it  is  not  uncommon  in  theatrical  scenery. 

The  grass  remains  green,  except  in  the  dry  districts,  all  the  year  round ;  and 
the  common  grass  of  the  Islands  is  the  ma?iiania,  a  line  creeping  grass  which 
covers  the  ground  with  a  dense  velvety  mat;  and  where  it  is  kept  short  by 
sheep  makes  an  admirable  springy  lawn.  It  has  a  fine  deep  color  and  bears 
drought  remarkably  well ;  and  it  is  the  favorite  pasture  grass  of  the  Islands.  I 
do  not  think  it  as  fattening  as  the  alfilleria  of  Southern  California  or  our  own 
timothy  or  blue  grass ;  but  it  is  a  valuable  grass  to  the  stockmen,  because  it 
eats  out  every  other  and  less  valuable  kind. 

On  your  journey  around  Oahu  you  need  a  guide  who  can  speak  some  En 
glish  ;  you  must  take  with  you  on  the  pack -mule  provisions  for  the  journey ; 
and  it  is  well  to  have  a  blanket  for  each  of  your  party.  You  will  sleep  each 
night  in  a  native  house,  unless,  as  is  very  likely  to  be  the  case,  you  have  invi 
tations  to  stop  at  plantation  houses  on  your  way.  At  the  native  houses  they 
will  kill  a  chicken  for  you,  and  cook  taro ;  but  they  have  no  other  supplies. 
You  can  usually  get  cocoa-nuts,  whose  milk  is  very  wholesome  and  refreshing. 
The  journey  is  like  a  somewhat  prolonged  picnic ;  the,  air  is  mild  and  pure  ; 
and  you  need  no  heavy  clothing,  for  you  are  sure  of  bright  sunny  weather. 

For  your  excursions  near  Honolulu,  and  for  the  adventure  I  have  described, 
you  can  hire  horses ;  though  if  you  mean  to  stay  a  month  or  two  it  is  better  to 
buy.  A  safe  and  good  horse,  well  saddled  and  bridled,  brought  to  you  every 
morning  at  the  hotel,  costs  you  a  dollar  a  day.  In  that  case  you  have  no  care 
or  responsibility  for  the  animal.  But  unless  there  are  men-of-war  in  port  you 
can  buy  a  sufficiently  good  riding-horse  for  from  twelve  to  twenty-five  dollars, 
and  get  something  of  your  investment  back  when  you  leave ;  and  you  can  buy 
saddles  and  all  riding-gear  cheaply  in  Honolulu.  The  maintenance  of  a  horse 
in  town  costs  not  over  fifty  cents  per  day. 

Your  guide  for  a  journey  ought  to  cost  you  a  dollar  a  day,  which  includes 
his  horse ;  when  you  stop  for  the  day  he  unsaddles  your  horses  and  ties  them 
out  in  a 'grass-field  where  they  get  sufficient  nourishment.  For  your  accom 
modation  at  a  native  house,  you  ought  to  pay  fifty  cents  for  each  person  of  your 
party,  including  the  guide.  The  proprietor  of  the  Honolulu  hotel  is  very  oblig 
ing  and  readily  helps  you  to  make  all  arrangements  for  horses  and  guides ;  and 

3 


34       NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

if  you  have  brought  any  letters  of  introduction,  or  make  acquaintances  in  the 
place,  you  will  find  every  body  ready  to  assist  you.  Riding  is  the  pleasantest 
way  of  getting  about ;  but  on  Oahu  the  roads  are  sufficiently  good  to  drive 
considerable  distances,  and  carriages  are  easily  obtainable. 

One  of  the  pleasant  surprises  which  meet  a  northern  traveler  in  these  islands 
is  the  number  of  strange  dishes  which  appear  on  the  table  and  in  the  bill  of 
fare.  Strawberries,  oranges — the  sweetest  and  juiciest  I  have  eaten  anywhere, 
except  perhaps  in  Rio  de  Janeiro — bananas  and  cocoa-nuts,  you  have  at  will ; 
but  besides  these  there  are  during  the  winter  months  the  guava,  very  nice 
when  it  is  sliced  like  a  tomato  and  eaten  with  sugar  and  milk ;  taro,  which  is 
the  potato  of  the  country  and,  in  the  shape  of  poi,  the  main  subsistence  of  the 
native  Hawaiian ;  bread-fruit ;  flying-fish,  the  most  tender  and  succulent  of  the 
fish  kind  ;  and,  in  their  season,  the  mango,  the  custard-apple,  the  alligator-pear, 
the  water-melon,  the  rose-apple,  the  ohia,  and  other  fruits. 

Taro,  when  baked,  is  an  excellent  and  wholesome  vegetable,  and  from  its 

leaves  is  cooked  a  fine  substitute  for  spin 
ach,  called  luau.  Poi  also  appears  on  your 
hotel  table,  being  the  national  dish,  of  which 
many  foreigners  have  become  very  fond.  It 
is  very  fattening  and  easily  digested,  and  is 
sometimes  prescribed  by  physicians  to  con 
sumptives.  As  you  drive  about  the  sub 
urbs  of  Honolulu  you  will  see  numerous 
taro  patches,  and  may  frequently  see  the 
natives  engaged  in  the  preparation  of  poi, 
which  consists  in  baking  the  root  or  tuber 
in  underground  ovens,  and  then  mashing 
it  very  fine,  so  that  if  dry  it  would  be  a 
flour.  It  is  then  mixed  with  water,  and 
for  native  use  left  to  undergo  a  slight  fer 
mentation.  Fresh  or  unfermented  poi  has 
a  pleasant  taste ;  when  fermented  it  tastes 
to  me  like  book-binder's  paste,  and  a  liking 
for  it  must  be  acquired  rather  than  natural, 
I  should  say,  with  foreigners. 

So  universal  is  its  use  among  the  natives 
that  the  manufacture  of  poi  is  carried  on 
now  by  steam-power  and  with  Yankee  machinery,  for  the  sugar  planters; 
and  the  late  king,  who  was  avaricious  and  a  trader,  incurred  the  dislike  of 
his  native  subjects  by  establishing  a  poi-factory  of  his  own  near  Honolulu. 
Poi  is  sold  in  the  streets  in  calabashes,  but  it  is  also  shipped  in  considerable 
quantities  to  other  islands,  and  especially  to  guano  islands  which  lie  southward 


HAWAIIAN   POI   DEALER. 


HONOLULU  AND  THE  ISLAND  OF  OAHU. 


35 


and  westward  of  this  group.  On  these  lonely  islets,  many  of  which  have  not 
even  drinking-water  for  the  laborers  who  live  on  them,  poi  and  fish  are  the 
chief  if  not  the  only  articles  of  food.  The  fish,  of  course,  are  caught  on  the 
spot,  but  poi,  water,  salt,  and  a  few  beef  cattle  for  the  use  of  the  white  superin 
tendents  are  carried  from  here. 

Taro  is  a  kind  of  arum.  It  grows,  unlike  any  other  vegetable  I  know  of  un 
less  it  be  rice,  entirely  under  water.  A  taro  patch  is  surrounded  by  embank 
ments  ;  its  bottom  is  of  puddled  clay ;  and  in  this  the  cutting,  which  is  simply 
the  top  of  the  plant  with  a  little  of  the  tuber,  is  set.  The  plants  are  set  out  in 
little  clumps  in  long  rows,  and  a  man  at  work  in  a  taro  patch  stands  up  to  his 
knees  in  water.  Forty  square  feet  of  taro,  it  is  estimated,  will  support  a  per 
son  for  a  year,  and  a  square  mile  of  taro  will  feed  over  15,000  Hawaiians. 


THE   PALACE,  HONOLULU. 


By-the-way,  you  will  hear  the  natives  say  Jcalo  when  they  speak  of  taro ;  and 
by  this  and  other  words  in  common  use  you,  will  presently  learn  of  a  curious 
obliquity  in  their  hearing.  A  Hawaiian  does  not  notice  any  difference  in  the 
sounds  of  r  and  I,  of  k  and  £,  or  of  5, p,  and  f.  Thus  the  Pali,  or  precipice  near 
Honolulu,  is  spoken  of  as  the  Pari ;  the  island  of  Kauai  becomes  to  a  resident  of 
it  Tauwai,  though  a  native  of  Oahu  calls  it  Kauai ;  taro  is  almost  universally 
called  kalo;  and  the  common  salutation,  Aloha,  which  means  "Love  to  you," 
and  is  the  national  substitute  for  "How  do  you  do?"  is  half  the  time  Aroha; 
Lanai  is  indifferently  called  Ranai ;  and  Mauna  Loa  is  in  the  mouths  of  most 
Hawaiians  Mauna  Roa.  Indeed,  in  the  older  charts  the  capital  of  the  kingdom 
is  called  Honoruru. 

Society  in  Honolulu  possesses  some  peculiar  features,  owing  in  part  to  the 
singularly  isolated  situation  of  this  little  capital,  and  partly  to  the  composition 
of  the  social  body.  Honolulu  is  a  capital  city  unconnected  with  any  other 
place  in  the  world  by  telegraph,  having  a  mail  once  a  month  from  San  Francis 
co  and  New  Zealand,  and  dependent  during  the  remainder  of  the  month  upon 
its  own  resources.  To  a  New  Yorker,  who  gets  his  news  hot  and  hot  all  day 


36       NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

and  night,  and  can't  go  to  sleep  without  first  looking  in  at  the  Fifth  Avenue 
Hotel  to  hear  the  latest  item,  this  will  seem  deplorable  enough ;  but  you  have 
no  idea  how  charming,  how  pleasant,  how  satisfactory  it  is  for  a  busy  or  over 
worked  man  to  be  thus  for  a  while  absolutely  isolated  from  affairs;  to  feel  that 
for  a  month  at  least  the  world  must  get  on  without  your  interfering  hand  ;  and 
though  you  may  dread  beforehand  this  enforced  separation  from  politics  and 
business,  you  will  find  it  very  pleasant  in  the  actual  experience. 

As  you  stand  upon  the  wharf  in  company  with  the  elite  of  the  kingdom 
to  watch  the  steamer  depart,  a  great  burden  falls  from  your  soul,  because  for 
a  month  to  come  you  have  not  the  least  responsibility  for  what  may  happen  in 
any  part  of  the  planet.  Looking  up  at  the  black  smoke  of  the  departing  ship, 
you  say  to  yourself,  "  Who  cares  ?"  Let  what  will  happen,  you  are  not  respon 
sible.  And  so,  with  a  light  heart  and 
an  easy  conscience,  you  get  on  your 
horse  (price  $15),  and  about  the  time 
the  lady  passengers  on  the  steamer  be 
gin  to  turn  green  in  face,  you  are  sit 
ting  down  on  a  spacious  lanai  or  ve 
randa,  in  one  of  the  most  delightful 
sea-side  resorts  in  the  world,  with  a 
few  friends  who  have  determined  to 
celebrate  by  a  dinner  this  monthly  re 
currence  of  their  non-intercourse  with 
the  world. 

The  people  are  surprisingly  hospita 
ble  and  kind  and  know  how  to  make 
strangers  at  home;  they  have  leisure, 
and  know  how  to  use  it  pleasantly ;  the 
climate  controls  their  customs  in  many 
respects,  and  nothing  is  pursued  at  fe 
ver  heat  as  with  us.  What  strikes  you,  when  you  have  found  your  way  into 
Honolulu  society  and  looked  around,  is  a  certain  sensible  moderation  and  sim 
plicity  which  is  in  part,  I  suspect,  a  remainder  of  the  old  missionary  influence; 
there  is  a  certain  amount  of  formality,  which  is  necessary  to  keep  society  from 
deteriorating, but  there  is  no  striving  after  effect;  there  are,  so  far  as  a  stranger 
discovers,  no  petty  cliques  or  cabals  or  coteries,  and  there  is  a  very  high  aver 
age  of  intelligence  :  they  care  about  the  best  things. 

They  know  how  to  dine ;  and  having  good  cooks  and  sound  digestions,  they 
add  to  these  one  requisite  to  pleasant  dining  which  some  more  pretentious  so 
cieties  are  without:  they  have  leisure.  Nothing  is  done  in  haste  in  Honolulu, 
where  they  have  long  ago  convinced  themselves  that  "  to-morrow  is  another 
day."  Moreover,  you  find  them  well-read,  without  being  blue  ;  they  have  not 


EMMA,   QUEEN   OK   KAME1IAMEIIA   IV. 


HONOLULU  AND  THE  ISLAND  OF  OAHU. 


muddled  their  history  by  contradictory  telegraphic  reports  of  matters  of  no 
consequence ;  in  fact,  so  far  as  recent  events  are  concerned,  they  stand  on  tol 
erably  firm  ground,  having  perused  only  the  last  monthly  record  of  current 
events.  Consequently,  they  have  had  time  to  read  and  enjoy  the  best  books; 
to  follow  with  an  intelligent  interest  the  most  notable  passing  events ;  and  as 
most  of  them  come  from  families  or  have  lived  among  people  who  have  had 
upon  their  own  shoulders  some  conscious  share  of  government,  political,  moral, 
or  religious,  these  talkers  are  not  pedantic,  but  agreeable.  As  to  the  ladies, 
you  find  them  charming ;  beautifully  dressed,  of  course,  but  they  have  not 
given  the  whole  day  and  their  whole  minds  to  the  dress;  they  are  cheerful, 
easily  excited  to  gayety,  long  accus 
tomed  to  take  life  easily,  and  eating  as 
though  they  did  not  know  what  dys 
pepsia  was. 

Indeed,  when  you  have  passed  a 
month  in  the  Islands  you  will  have  a 
better  opinion  of  idleness  than  you  had 
before,  though  in  some  respects  the 
odd  effects  of  a  tropical  climate  will 
hardly  meet  your  approval.  Euchre, 
for  instance,  takes  the  place  here  which 
whist  holds  elsewhere  as  the  amuse 
ment  of  sensible  people. 

Finally,  society  in  Honolulu  is  re 
spectable.  It  is  fashionable  to  be  vir 
tuous,  and  if  you  were  "fast,"  I  think 
you  would  conceal  it.  The  Govern 
ment  has  always  encouraged  respecta 
bility,  and  discountenanced  vice.  The 
men  who  have  ruled  the  Islands — not 
the  missionaries  alone,  but  the  political 
rulers  since — have  been  plain,  honest, 
and,  in  the  main,  wise  men ;  and  they 
fiave  kept  politics  respectable  in  the  little  monarchy.  The  disreputable  adven 
turer  element  which  degrades  our  politics,  and  invades  society  too,  is  not  found 
here.  You  will  say  the  rewards  are  not  great  enough  to  attract  this  vile  class. 
Perhaps  not;  but  at  any  rate  it  is  not  there;  and  I  do  not  know,  in  short, 
where  else  in  the  world  you  would  find  so  kindly,  so  gracefully  hospitable,  and, 
at  the  same  time,  so  simple  and  enjoyable  a  society  as  that  of  Honolulu. 

No  one  can  visit  the  Islands  without  being  impressed  by  the  boundless  hos 
pitality  of  the  sugar  planters,  who,  with  their  superintendents  and  managers, 
form,  away  from  the  few  towns,  almost  the  only  white  inhabitants.  Hospital- 


A    HAWAIIAN    CHIEF. 


38      NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

ity  so  free-handed  is,  I  suspect,  found  in  few  other  parts  of  the  world.  Though 
Honolulu  has  now  a  commodious  hotel,  the  residents  keep  up  their  old  habits 
of  graceful  welcome  to  strangers.  The  capital  has  an  excellent  band,  which 
plays  in  public  places  several  times  a  week ;  and  it  does  not  lack  social  enter 
tainments,  parties,  and  dinners,  to  break  the  monotony  of  life.  Not  only  the 
residents  of  foreign  birth,  but  a  few  Hawaiians  also,  people  of  education,  cul 
ture,  and  means,  entertain  gracefully  and  frequently. 

As  for  the  common  people,  they  are  by  nature  or  long  custom,  or  both,  as 
kindly  and  hospitable  as  men  can  be.  If  you  ask  for  lodgings  at  night-fall  at 
a  native  hut, you  are  received  as  though  you  were  conferring  a  favor;  frequent 
ly  the  whole  house,  which  has  but  one  room,  is  set  apart  for  you,  the  people 
going  elsewhere  to  sleep ;  a  chicken  is  slain  in  your  honor,  and  for  your  exclu 
sive  supper;  and  you  are  served  by  the  master  of  the  house  himself.  The 
native  grass-house,  where  it  has  been  well  built,  is  a  very  comfortable  struc 
ture.  It  has  but  a  .single  room,  calico  curtains  serving  as  partitions  by  night; 
at  one  end  a  standing  bed-place,  running  across  the  house,  provides  sleeping 
accommodations  for  the  whole  family,  however  numerous.  This  bed  consists 
of  mats ;  and  the  covers  are  either  of  tapa  cloth — which  is  as  though  you 
should  sleep  under  newspapers — or  of  blankets.  The  more  prosperous  people 
have  often,  besides  this,  an  enormous  bedstead  curtained  off  and  reserved  for 
strangers ;  and  you  may  see  the  women  take  out  of  their  chests,  when  you  ask 
hospitality,  blankets,  sheets,  and  a  great  number  of  little  pillows  for  the  bed,  as 
well  as  often  a  brilliant  silk  coverlet;  for  this  bed  appears  to  be  like  a  Cape 
Cod  parlor — for  ornament  rather  than  use.  The  use  of  the  dozen  little  pillows 
puzzled  me,  until  I  found  that  they  were  intended  to  tuck  or  wedge  me  in,  so 
that  I  should  not  needlessly  and  uncomfortably  roll  about  the  vast  bed.  They 
were  laid  at  the  sides,  and  I  was  instructed  to  "  chock  "  myself  with  them.  On 
leaving,  do  not  inquire  what  is  the  cost  of  your  accommodations.  The  Ha 
waiian  has  vague  ideas  about  price.  He  might  tell  you  five  or  ten  dollars ;  but 
if  you  pay  him  seventy-five  cents  for  yourself  and  your  guide,  he  will  be  abun 
dantly  and  thoroughly  satisfied. 


HILO,  WITH  SOME  VOLCANOES. 


39 


T11E   OUATER   OF   KILAUEA— OiSE   TIIASE. 


CHAPTER  II. 

•  HILO,  WITH  SOME  VOLCANOES. 

"TT^TILO,  as  you  will  perceive  on  the  map,  lies  on  the  eastern  or  windward  side 
-•—•-  of  the  Island  of  Hawaii.  You  get  there  in  the  little  inter-island  steamer 
Kilauea,  named  after  the  volcano,  and  which  makes  a  weekly  tour  of  all  the 
Islands  except  far-off  Kauai,  which  it  visits  but  once  a  month.  The  charge  for 
passage  is  fifteen  dollars  from  Honolulu  to  Hilo,  and  twenty-five  dollars  for  the 
round  trip. 

The  cabin  is  small ;  and  as  you  are  likely  to  have  fine  weather,  you  will,  even 
if  you  are  a  lady,  pass  the  time  more  pleasantly  on  deck,  where  the  steward,  a 
Goa  man  and  the  most  assiduous  and  tactful  of  his  trade,  will  place  a  mattress 
and  blankets  for  you.  You  must  expect  to  suffer  somewhat  from  sea-sickness 
if  you  are  subject  to  that  ill,  for  the  passage  is  not  unlikely  to  be  rough.  On 
the  way  you  see  Lahaina,  and  a  considerable  part  of  the  islands  of  Maui  and 
Hawaii ;  in  fact,  you  are  never  out  of  sight  of  land. 

If  you  start  on  Monday  evening  you  will  reach  Hilo  on  Wednesday — and 
"  about  this  time  expect  rain,"  as  the  almanac-makers  say.  They  get  about 
seventeen  feet  of  rain  at  Hilo  during  the  year ;  and  as  they  have  sometimes 


40       NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

several  days  without  any  at  all,  you  must  look  for  not  only  frequent  but 
heavy  showers.  A  Hilo  man  told  me  of  a  curious  experiment  which  was  once 
made  there.  They  knocked  the  heads  out  of  an  oil-cask — so  he  said — and  it 
rained  in  at  the  bung-hole  faster  than  it  could  run  out  at  the  ends.  You  may 
disbelieve  this  story  if  you  please ;  I  tell  it  as  it  was  told  me ;  but  in  any  case 
you  will  do  well  to  provide  yourself  for  Hilo  and  the  volcano  journey  with 
stout  water-proof  clothing. 

Hilo,  on  those  days  when  the  sun  shines,  is  one  of  the  prettiest  places  on 
the  Islands.  If  you  are  so  fortunate  as  to  enter  the  bay  on  a  fine  day  you  will 
see  a  very  tropical  landscape — a  long,  pleasant,  curved  sweep  of  beach,  on  which 
the  surf  is  breaking,  and  beyond,  white  houses  nestling  among  cocoa-nut 
groves,  and  bread-fruit,  pandanus,  and  other  Southern  trees,  many  of  them  bear 
ing  brilliant  flowers;  with  shops  and  stores  along  the  beach.  Men  and  boys 
sporting  in  the  surf,  and  men  and  women  dashing  on  horseback  over  the 
beach,  make  up  the  life  of  the  scene. 

Hilo  has  no  hotel ;  it  has  not  even  a  carriage ;  but  it  has  a  very  agreeable 
and  intelligent  population  of  Americans,  and  you  will  find  good  accommoda 
tions  at  the  large  house  of  Mr.  Severance,  the  sheriff  of  Hawaii.  If  his  house 
should  be  full  you  need  not  be  alarmed,  for  some  one  will  take  you  in. 

This  is  the  usual  and  most  convenient  point  of  departure  for  the  volcano. 
Here  you  hire  horses  and  a  guide  for  the  journey.  Having  gone  to  Hilo  on 
the  steamer,  you  will  do  best  to  return  to  Honolulu  by  schooner,  which  leaves 
you  at  liberty  to  choose  your  point  and  time  of  departure.  Hawaii  lies  to  wind 
ward  of  Oahu;  and  a  schooner,  which  might  need  four  or  five  days  to  beat  up 
to  Hilo,  will  run  down  from  any  part  of  Hawaii  in  twenty-four  hours.  If  you 
are  an  energetic  traveler,  determined  to  see  every  thing,  and  able  to  endure  a 
good  deal  of  rough  riding,  you  may  spend  six  weeks  on  Hawaii.  In  that  time 
you  may  not  only  see  the  active  volcano  of  Kilauea,  but  may  ascend  Mauna  Loa 
and  Mauna  Kea,  whose  immense  slopes  and  lofty  and  in  the  winter  snow-clad 
summits  show  gloriously  on  a  clear  day  from  Hilo ;  and  you  may  ride  from 
Hilo  along  the  north-eastern  coast,  through  the  Hamakua  and  Kohala  districts, 
ending  your  journey  at  Kealakeakua  Bay  where  Captain  Cook  was  killed. 
There  you  can  take  schooner  for  Honolulu  ;  or  if  your  energies  hold  out  ride 
through  Kau  and  Puna  back  to  Hilo. 

The  Hamakua  and  Ililo  coasts  you  will  see  from  the  steamer,  which  sails 
close  along  this  bold  and  picturesque  shore  on  her  way  to  Ililo.  This  part  of 
the  island  is  but  an  extension  of  the  vast  slope  of  Mauna  Kea;  and  all  the 
waters  which  drain  from  its  cloud-laden  summit  pour  into  the  sea  through  nu 
merous  deep  channels,  or  gorges  which  they  have  worn  for  themselves,  and  oc 
casionally  dash  into  the  ocean  from  high  cliffs,  forming  water-falls  visible  from 
the  ship's  deck.  Of  the  gorges  or  canons,  there  are  seventy-nine  in  a  distance 
of  about  thirty  miles ;  many  of  them  are  from  five  to  eight  hundred  feet  deep  ; 


HILO,  WITH  SOME  VOLCANOES. 


41 


KE.YLAKEAKUA   BAY,  WHEliE   CAPTAIN    COOK    WAS    KILLED. 

and  as  you  ride  along  the  coast,  yon  have  no  sooner  emerged  from  one  of  these 
deep  pits  than  you  descend  by  a  road  seldom  easy,  and  often  very  steep  in 
deed,  into  another.  The  sides  of  these  gorges  are  lined  with  masses  of  the 
most  magnificent  ferns,  and  at  their  bottoms  you  find  sparkling  streams ;  and 
as  you  look  up  the  caiions  you  see  picturesque  water-falls.  In  short,  to  the 
lover  of  bold  and  strange  scenery  this  ride  offers  many  pleasures ;  and  that  its 
difficulties  may  not  be  exaggerated  to  any  one's  apprehension,  I  will  mention 
that  during  the  spring  of  1873  an  English  lady,  taking  with  her  only  a  native 
woman  as  guide,  made  the  tour  of  the  whole  seventy-nine  gulches,  and  thought 
herself  amply  rewarded  for  her  toils  by  what  she  saw.  As  for  myself,  I  must 
confess  that  four  of  these  gulches — the  four  nearest  Hilo — satisfied  me ;  these 
I  saw  in  visiting  some  sugar-plantations. 

If  you  do  not  intend  such  a  thorough  exploration  of  Hawaii,  but  mean  only 
to  see  the  volcano  of  Kilauea,  your  pleasantest  plan  is  to  ride  from  Hilo  by  the 
direct  road  to  the  crater,  and  return  by  way  of  Puna.  You  will  have  ridden 
a  trifle  over  one  hundred  miles  through  a  very  remarkable  and  in  some  parts  a 
beautiful  country;  you  will  have  slept  one  night  in  a  native  house,  and  will  have 
seen  much  of  Hawaiian  life,  and  enjoyed  a  tiring  but  at  the  same  time  a  very 
novel  journey,  and  some  sights  which  can  not  be  matched  outside  of  Iceland. 
To  do  this,  and  spend  two  or  three  days  in  pleasant  sight-seeing  near  Hilo,  will 
bring  you  back  to  Honolulu  in  from  twelve  to  fourteen  days  after  you  left  it. 


42       NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

Your  traveling  expenses  will  be  sufficiently  moderate.  At  Hilo  you  pay  for 
board  arid  lodgings  eight  dollars  per  week.  The  charge  for  horses  is  ten  dol 
lars  each  for  the  volcano  journey,  with  a  dollar  a  day  for  your  guide.  This 
guide  relieves  you  of  all  care  of  the  animals,  and  is  useful  in  various  ways.  At 
the  Volcano  House  the  charge  for  horse  and  man  is  five  dollars  per  day,  and 
you  pay  half-price  for  your  guide.  There  is  a  charge  of  one  dollar  for  a  special 
guide  into  the  crater,  which  is  made  in  your  bill,  and  you  will  do  well  to  prom 
ise  this  guide,  when  you  go  in,  a  small  gratuity — half  a  dollar,  or,  if  your  party 
is  large,  a  dollar — if  he  gives  you  satisfaction.  He  will  get  you  specimens, 
carry  a  shawl  for  a  lady,  and  make  himself  in  other  ways  helpful. 

When  you  get  on  your  horse  at  Hilo  for  the  volcano,  leave  behind  you  all 
hope  of  good  roads.  You  are  to  ride  for  thirty  miles  over  a  lava  bed,  along  a 
narrow  trail  as  well  made  as  it  could  be  without  enormous  expense,  but  so 
rough,  so  full  of  mud-holes  filled  with  broken  lava  in  the  first  part  of  the  jour- 


THE   VOLCANO   HOUSE. 


ney,  and  so  entirely  composed  of  naked,  jagged,  and  ragged  lava  in  the  remain 
der,  that  one  wonders  how  the  horses  stand  it.  A  canter,  except  for  two  or 
three  miles  near  the  Volcano  House,  is  almost  out  of  the  question ;  and  though 
the  Hawaiians  trot  and  gallop  the  whole  distance,  a  stranger  will  scarcely  fol 
low  their  example. 

You  should  insist,  by-the-way,  upon  having  all  your  horses  reshod  the  day 
before  they  leave  Hilo;  and  it  is  prudent,  even  then,  to  take  along  an  extra  pair 
of  shoes  and  a  dozen  or  two  horse-nails.  The  lava  is  extremely  trying  to  the 
horse's  shoes ;  and  if  your  horse  casts  a  shoe  he  will  go  lame  in  fifteen  minutes, 
for  the  jagged  lava  cuts  almost  like  glass. 

Moreover,  do  not  wait  for  a  fine  day ;  it  will  probably  rain  at  any  rate  before 
you  reach  the  Volcano  House,  and  your  wisest  way  is  to  set  out  resolutely,  rain 
or  shine,  on  the  appointed  morning,  for  the  sun  may  come  out  two  or  three 
hours  after  you  have  started  in  a  heavy  rain.  Each  traveler  should  take  his 
water-proof  clothing  upon  his  own  saddle — it  may  be  needed  at  any  time — and 


HILO,  WITH  SOME  VOLCANOES.  43 

the  pack-mule  should  carry  not  only  the  spare  clothing,  well  covered  with  India- 
rubber  blankets,  but  also  an  abundant  lunch  to  be  eaten  at  the  Half-way  House. 

India-rubber  or  leather  leggings,  and  a  long,  sleeveless  Mackintosh  seemed 
to  me  the  most  comfortable  and  sufficient  guards  against  weather.  Ladies 
should  ride  astride ;  they  will  be  most  comfortable  thus.  There  are  no  steep 
ascents  or  abrupt  descents  on  the  way.  Kilauea  is  nearly  four  thousand  feet 
higher  than  the  sea  from  which  you  set  out ;  but  the  rise  is  so  gradual  and 
constant  that  if  the  road  were  good  one  might  gallop  a  horse  the  whole  dis 
tance. 

You  should  set  out  not  later  than  half-past  seven,  and  make  up  your  mind 
not  to  be  hurried  on  the  way.  There  are  people  who  make  the  distance  in  six 
hours,  and  boast  about  it ;  but  I  accomplished  it  with  a  party  of  ladies  and  chil 
dren  in  ten  hours  with  very  little  discomfort,  and  did  not  envy  the  six-hour 
people.  There  is  nothing  frightful,  or  dangerous,  or  disagreeable  about  the 
journey,  even  to  ladies  not  accustomed  to  riding;  and  there  is  very  much  that 
is  new,  strange,  and  wonderful  to  Americans  or  Europeans.  Especially  you 
will  be  delighted  with  the  great  variety  and  beauty  of  the  ferns,  which  range 
from  minute  and  delicate  species  to  the  dark  and  grand  fronds  of  the  tree-fern, 
which  rises  in  the  more  elevated  region  to  a  height  of  twenty  feet,  and  whose 
stalk  has  sometimes  a  diameter  of  three  or  four  feet.  From  a  variety  of  this 
tree-fern  the  natives  take  a  substance  called  pulu,  a  fine,  soft,  brown  fuzz,  used 
for  stuffing  pillows  and  mattresses. 

Your  guide  will  probably  understand  very  little  English  :  let  him  be  in 
structed  in  your  wishes  before  you  set  out.  The  native  Hawaiian  is  the  most 
kind  and  obliging  creature  in  the  world,  and  you  will  find  your  guide  ready  to 
do  you  every  needful  service.  You  can  get  nothing  to  eat  on  the  road,  except 
perhaps  a  little  sugar-cane  ;  therefore  you  must  provide  a  sufficient  lunch.  At 
the  Half-way  House,  but  probably  nowhere  else,  you  will  get  water  to  drink. 

When  you  reach  the  Volcano  House,  I  advise  you  to  take  a  sulphur  vapor- 
bath,  refreshing  after  a  tedious  ride ;  and  after  supper  you  will  sit  about  a  big 
open  fire  and  recount  the  few  incidents  and  adventures  of  the  day. 

The  next  day  you  give  to  the  crater.  Unless  the  night  is  very  foggy  you 
will  have  gone  to  sleep  with  the  lurid  light  of  Kilauea  in  your  eyes.  Madame 
Pele,  the  presiding  goddess  of  the  volcano,  exhibits  fine  fire-works  at  night 
sometimes,  and  we  saw  the  lava  spurting  up  in  the  air  above  the  edge  of  the 
smaller  and  active  crater,  one  night,  in  a  quite  lively  manner.  On  a  moderate 
ly  clear  night  the  light  from  the  burning  lakes  makes  a  very  grand  sight ;  and 
the  bedrooms  at  the  little  Volcano  House  are  so  placed  that  you  have  Madame 
Pele's  fire-works  before  you  all  night. 

The  house  stands  but  a  few  feet  from  the  edge  of  the  great  crater,  and  you 
have  no  tedious  preliminary  walk,  but  begin  your  descent  into  the  pit  at  once. 
For  this  you  need  stout  shoes,  light  clothing,  and,  if  you  have  ladies  in  your 


44      NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

party,  a  heavy  shawl  for  each.  The  guide  takes  with  him  a  canteen  of  water, 
and  also  carries  the  shawls.  You  should  start  about  nine  o'clock,  and  give  the 
whole  day  to  the  crater,  returning  to  dinner  at. five. 

The  great  crater  of  Kilauea  is  nine  miles  in  circumference,  and  perhaps  a 
thousand  feet  deep.  It  is,  in  fact,  a  deep  pit,  bounded  on  all  sides  by  precip 
itous  rocks.  The  entrance  is  effected  by  a  series  of  steps,  and  below  these  by 
a  scramble  over  lava  and  rock  debris.  It  is  not  difficult,  but  the  ascent  is  tire 
some  ;  arid  it  is  a  prudent  precaution,  if  you  have  ladies  with  you,  to  take  a  na 
tive  man  for  each  lady,  to  assist  her  over  the  rougher  places,  and  up  the  steep 
ascent.  The  greater  part  of  the  crater  was,  when  I  saw  it,  a  mass  of  dead. 


HAWAIIAN   TEMPLE,  FEO.M    A   KU8KIAN   ENGRAVING,  AISOUT   1700. 

though  not  cold  lava;  and  over  this  you  walk  to  the  farthest  extremity  of  the 
pit,  where  you  must  ascend  a  tolerably  steep  hill  of  lava,  which  is  the  bank  of 
the  fiery  lake.  The  distance  from  the  Volcano  House  to  the  edge  of  this  lake 
is,  by  the  road  you  take,  three  miles. 

The  goddess  Pele,  who,  according  to  the  Hawaiian  mythology,  presides  over 
Kilauea,  is,  as  some  say  all  her  sex  are,  variable,  changeable,  mutable.  What  I 
shall  tell  you  about  the  appearance  of  the  crater  and  lake  is  true  of  that  time; 
it  may  not  have  been  correct  a  week  later  ;  it  was  certainly  not  true  of  a  month 
before.  We  climbed  into  the  deep  pit,  and  then  stood  upon  a  vast  floor  of  lava, 
rough,  jammed  together,  broken,  jagged,  steaming  out  a  hot  sulphurous  breath 
at  almost  every  seam,  revealing  rolls  of  later  lava  injections  at  every  deep  crack, 


HILO,  WITH  SOME  VOLCANOES. 


45 


with  caverns  and  high  ridges  where  the  great  mass,  after  cooling,  was  forced 
together,  and  with  a  steep  mountain-side  of  lava  at  our  left,  along  the  foot  of 
which  we  clambered. 

This  floor  of  lava,  which  seems  likely  to  be  a  more  or  less  permanent  feature, 
was,  three  or  four  years  ago,  upon  a  level  with  the  top  of  the  high  ridge,  or 
ledge,  whose  base  you  skirt.  The  main  part  of  the  crater  was  then  a  floor  of 
lava  vaster  even  than  it  now  is.  Suddenly  one  day,  and  with  a  crash  which  per 
suaded  one  or  two  persons  at  the  Volcano  House  that  the  whole  planet  was  fly 
ing  to  pieces,  the  greater  part  of  this  lava  floor  sank  down,  or  fell  down,  a  depth 
of  about  five  hundred  feet,  to  the  level  whereon  we  now  walked.  The  wonder- 


LAVA   FIEL1>,  HAWAII — FLOW   OF   1868. 

ful  tale  was  plain  to  us  as  we  examined  the  details  on  the  spot.  It  was  as 
though  a  top-heavy  and  dried-out  pie-crust  had  fallen  in  in  the  middle,  leaving 
a  part  of  the  circumference  bent  down,  but  clinging  at  the  outside  to  the  dish. 
After  this  great  crash  the  lava  seems  from  time  to  time  to  have  boiled  up 
from  beneath  through  cracks,  and  now  lies  in  great  rolls  upon  the  surface,  or 
in  the  deeper  cracks.  It  is  related  that  later  the  lake  or  caldron  at  the  farther 
end  of  the  crater  boiled  over,  and  sent  down  streams  of  lava  which  meandered 
over  the  black  plain ;  that,  continuing  to  boil  over  at  intervals,  this  lake  in 
creased  the  height  of  its  own  banks, for  the  lava  cools  very  rapidly;  and  thus 
was  built  up  a  high  hill,  which  we  ascended  after  crossing  the  lava  plains,  in 
order  to  look  down,  in  fear  and  wonder,  upon  the  awful  sight  below. 


46       NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

What  we  saw  there  on  the  3d  of  March,  1873,  was  two  huge  pits,  caldrons,  or 
lakes,  filled  with  a  red,  molten,  fiery,  sulphurous,  raging,  roaring,  restless  mass 
of  matter,  to  watch  whose  unceasing  tumult  was  one  of  the  most  fascinating 
experiences  of  my  life. 

The  two  lakes  were  then  separated  by  a  narrow  and  low-lying  ledge  or  pe 
ninsula  of  lava,  which  I  was  told  they  frequently  overflow,  and  sometimes  en 
tirely  melt  down.  Standing  upon  the  northern  bank  we  could  see  both  lakes, 
and  we  estimated  their  shortest  diameter  to  be  about  500  feet,  and  the  longest 
about  one-eighth  of  a  mile.  Within  this  pit  the  surface  of  the  molten  lava  was 
about  eighty  feet  below  us.  It  has  been  known  to  sink  down  400  feet ;  last  De 
cember  it  was  overflowing  the  high  banks  and  sending  streams  of  lava  into  the 
great  plain  by  which  we  approached  it ;  and  since  I  saw  it,  it  has  risen  to  with 
in  a  few  feet  of  the  top  of  the  bank,  and  has  forced  a  way  out  at  one  side, 
where,  in  September,  1873,  it  was  flowing  out  slowly  on  to  the  great  lava  plain 
which  forms  the  bottom  of  the  main  crater. 

What,  therefore,  Madame  Pele  will  show  you  hereafter  is  uncertain.  What 
we  saw  was  this :  two  large  lakes  or  caldrons,  each  nearly  circular,  with  the 
lower  shelf  or  bank,  red-hot,  from  which  the  molten  lava  was  repelled  toward 
the  .centre  without  cessation.  The  surface  of  these  lakes  was  of  a  lustrous  and 
beautiful  gray,  and  this,  which  was  a  cooling  and  tolerably  solid  scum,  was 
broken  by  jagged  circles  of  fire,  which  appeared  of  a  vivid  rose-color  in  con 
trast  with  the  gray.  These  circles,  starting  at  the  red-hot  bank  or  shore,  moved 
more  or  less  rapidly  toward  the  centre,  where,  at  intervals  of  perhaps  a  minute, 
the  whole  mass  of  lava  suddenly  but  slowly  bulged  up,  burst  the  thin  crust, 
and  flung  aloft  a  huge,  fiery  wave,  which  sometimes  shot  as  high  as  thirty  feet 
in  the  air.  Then  ensued  a  turmoil,  accompanied  with  hissing,  and  occasionally 
with  a  dull  roar  as  the  gases  sought  to  escape,  and  spray  was  flung  in  every 
direction ;  and  presently  the  agitation  subsided,  to  begin  again  in  the  same 
place,  or  perhaps  in  another. 

Meantime  the  fiery  rings  moved  forward  perpetually  toward  the  centre,  a 
new  one  re-appearing  at  the  shore  before  the  old  was  ingulfed ;  and  not  uiifre- 
quently  the  mass  of  lava  was  so  fiercely  driven  by  some  force  from  the  bank 
near  which  we  stood,  that  it  was  ten  or  fifteen  feet  higher  near  the  centre  than 
at  the  circumference.  Thus  somewhat  of  the  depth  was  revealed  to  us,  and 
there  seemed  something  peculiarly  awful  to  me  in  the  fierce  glowing  red  heat 
of  the  shores  themselves,  which  never  cooled  with  exposure  to  the  air  and  light. 

Thus  acted  the  first  of  the  two  lakes.  But  when,  favored  by  a  strong  breeze, 
we  ventured  farther,  to  the  side  of  the  furthermost  one,  a  still  more  terrible 
spectacle  greeted  us.  The  mass  in  this  lake  was  in  yet  more  violent  agitation ; 
but  it  spent  its  fury  upon  the  precipitous  southern  bank,  against  which  it  dashed 
with  a  vehemence  equal  to  a  heavy  surf  breaking  against  cliffs.  It  had  under 
mined  this  lava  cliff,  and  for  a  space  of  perhaps  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  the 


HILO,WITH  SOME  VOLCANOES.  47 

lava  beat  and  surged  into  glaring,  red-hot,  cavernous  depths,  and  was  repelled 
with  a  dull,  heavy  roar^not  exactly  like  the  boom  of  breakers,  because  the  lava 
is  so  much  heavier  than  water,  but  with  a  voice  of  its  own,  less  resonant,  and, 
as  we  who  listened  thought,  full  of  even  more  deadly  fury. 

It  seems  a  little  absurd  to  couple  the  word  "  terrible  "  with  any  action  of 
mere  inanimate  matter,  from  which,  after  all,  we  stood  in  no  very  evident  peril. 
Yet  "  terrible  "  is  the  only  word  for  it.  Grand  it  was  not,  because  in  all  its 
action  and  voice  it  seemed  infernal.  Though  its  movement  is  slow  and  delib 
erate,  it  would  scarcely  occur  to  you  to  call  either  the  constant  impulse  from 
one  side  toward  the  other,  or  the  vehement  and  vast  bulging  of  the  lava  wave 
as  it  explodes  its  thin  crust  or  dashes  a  fiery  mass  against  the  cliff,  majestic,  for 
devilish  seems  a  better  word. 

Meantime,  though  we  were  favored  with  a  cool  and  strong  breeze,  bearing 
the  sulphurous  stench  of  the  burning  lake  away  from  us,  the  heat  of  the  lava 
on  which  we  stood,  at  least  eighty  feet  above  the  pit,  was  so  great  as  to  be  al 
most  unendurable.  We  stood  first  upon  one  foot,  and  then  on  the  other,  because 
the  soles  of  our  feet  seemed  to  be  scorching  through  thick  shoes.  A  lady  sit 
ting  down  upon  a  bundle  of  shawls  had  to  rise  because  the  wraps  began  to 
scorch ;  our  faces  seemed  on  fire  from  the  reflection  of  the  heat  below ;  the 
guide's  tin  water-canteen,  lying  near  my  feet,  became  presently  so  hot  that  it 
burned  my  fingers  when  I  took  it  up ;  and  at  intervals  there  came  up  from  be 
hind  us  a  draught  of  air  so  hot,  and  so  laden  with  sulphur  that,  even  with  the 
strong  wind  carrying  it  rapidly  away,  it  was  scarcely  endurable.  It  was  while 
we  were  coughing  and  spluttering  at  one  of  these  hot  blasts,  which  came  from 
the  numerous  fissures  in  the  lava  which  we  had  passed  over,  that  a  lady  of  our 
party  remarked  that  she  had  read  an  excellent  description  of  this  place  in  the 
New  Testament ;  and  so  far  as  I  observed,  no  one  disagreed  with  her. 

After  the  lakes  came  the  cones.  When  the  surface  of  this  lava  is  so  rapidly 
cooling  that  the  action  below  is  too  weak  to  break  it,  the  gases  forcing  their 
way  out  break  small  vents,  through  which  lava  is  then  ejected.  This,  cooling 
rapidly  as  it  comes  to  the  outer  air,  forms  by  its  accretions  a  conical  pipe  of 
greater  or  less  circumference,  and  sometimes  growing  twenty  or  thirty  feet 
high,  open  at  the  top,  and  often  with  openings  also  blown  out  at  the  sides. 
There  are  several  of  these  cones  on  the  summit  bank  of  the  lake,  all  ruined, 
as  it  seemed  to  me,  by  some  too  violent  explosion,  which  had  blown  off  most 
of  the  top,  and  in  one  case  the  whole  of  it,  leaving  then  only  a  wide  hole. 

Into  these  holes  we  looked,  and  saw  a  very  wonderful  and  terrible  sight. 
Below  us  was  a  stream  of  lava,  rolling  and  surging  and  beating  against  huge, 
precipitous,  red-hot  cliffs ;  and  higher  up,  suspended  from  other,  also  red  or 
white  hot  overhanging  cliffs,  depended  huge  stalactites,  like  masses  of  fiercely 
glowing  fern  leaves  waving  about  in  the  subterraneous  wind  ;  and  here  we  saw 
how  thin  was  in  some  such  places  the  crust  over  which  we  walked,  and  how 


48       NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

near  the  melting-point  must  be  its  under  surface.  For,  as  far  as  we  could 
judge,  these  little  craters  or  cones  rested  upon  a  crust  .not  thicker  than  twelve 
or  fourteen  inches,  and  one  fierce  blast  from  below  seemed  sufficient  to  melt 
away  the  whole  place.  Fortunately  one  can  not  stay  very  long  near  these  open 
ings,  for  they  exhale  a  very  poisonous  breath ;  and  so  we  were  drawn  back  to 
the  more  fascinating  but  less  perilous  spectacle  of  the  lakes;  and  then  back 
over  the  rough  lava,  our  minds  filled  with  memories  of  a  spectacle  which  is  cer 
tainly  one  of  the  most  remarkable  our  planet  affords. 

When  you  have  seen  the  fiery  lakes  you  will  recognize  a  crater  at  sight,  and 
every  part  of  Hawaii  and  of  the  other  islands  will  have  a  new  interest  for  you ; 


for  all  are  full  of  craters,  and  from  Kilauea  to  the  sea  you  may  trace  several 
lines  of  craters,  all  extinct,  but  all  at  some  time  belching  forth  those  intermina 
ble  lava  streams  over  which  you  ride  by  the  way  of  the  Puna  coast  for  nearly 
seventy  miles  back  to  Hilo. 

I  advise  you  to  take  this  way  back.  Almost  the  whole  of  it  is  a  land  of  des 
olation.  A  narrow  trail  across  unceasing  beds  of  lava,  a  trail  which  in  spots 
was  actually  hammered  down  to  make  it  smooth  enough  for  horses'  feet,  and 
outside  of  whose  limits  in  most  places  your  horse  will  refuse  to  go,  because  he 
knows  it  is  too  rough  for  beast  or  man :  this  is  your  road.  Most  of  the  lava 


HILO,  WITH  SOME  VOLCANOES. 


49 


is  probably  very  ancient,  though  some  is  quite  recent ;  and  ferns  and  guava 
bushes  and  other  scanty  herbage  grow  through  it. 

In  some  of  the  cavernous  holes,  which  denote  probably  ancient  cones  or  huge 
lava  bubbles,  you  will  see  a  cocoa-nut-tree  or  a  pandanus  trying  to  subsist; 
and  by-and-by,  after  a  descent  to  the  sea-shore,  you  are  rewarded  with  the 
pleasant  sight  of  groves  of  cocoa-nuts  and  umbrageous  arbors  of  pandanus,  and 
occasionally  wijh  a  patch  of  green. 

Almost  the  whole  of  the  Puna  coast  is  waterless.  From  the  Volcano  House 
you  take  with  you  not  only  food  for  the  journey  back  to  Hilo,  but  water  in 
bottles ;  and  your  thirsty  animals  get  none  until  you  reach  the  end  of  your  first 


day's  journey,  at  Kaimu.  Here,  also,  you  can  send  a  more  than  half-naked 
native  into  the  trees  for  cocoa-nuts,  and  drink  your  fill  of  their  refreshing  milk, 
while*your  jaded  horses  swallow  bucketfuls  of  rain-water. 

It  will  surprise  you  to  find  people  living  among  the  lava,  making  potato- 
patches  in  it,  planting  coffee  and  some  fruit-trees  in  it,  fencing  in  their  small 
holdings,  even,  with  lava  blocks.  Very  little  soil  is  needed  to  give  vegetation 
a  chance  in  a  rainy  reason,  and  the  decomposed  lava  makes  a  rich  earth.  But 
except  the  cocoa-nut  which  grows  on  the  beach,  and  seems  to  draw  its  suste 
nance  from  the  waves,  and  the  sweet-potato,  which  does  very  well  among  the 
lava,  nothing  seems  really  to  thrive. 

It  will  add  much  to  the  pleasure  of  your  journey  to  Kilauea  if  you  carry 
with  you,  to  read  upon  the  spot  and  along  the  road,  Brigham's  valuable  Memoir 

4 


50       NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

on  the  Hawaiian  Volcanoes.  With  this  in  hand,  you  will  comprehend  the  na 
ture,  and  know  also  the  very  recent  date  of  some  important  changes,  caused 
by  earthquakes  and  lava  flows,  on  the  Puna  coast.  Near  and  at  Kainm,  for 
instance,  there  has  been  an  apparent  subsidence  of  the  land,  which  is  supposed 
in  reality,  however,  I  believe,  to  have  been  caused  rather  by  the  breaking  off  of 
a  vast  lava  ledge  or  overhang,  on  which,  covered  as  it  was  with  earth  and 
trees,  a  considerable  population  had  long  lived.  In  front  of  tjie  native  house 
in  which  you  will  sleep,  at  Kaimu,  part  of  a  large  grove  of  cocoa-nut-trees  was 
thus  submerged,  and  you  may  see  the  dead  stumps  still  sticking  up  out  of  the 
surf. 

Kaimu  is  twenty-five  miles  from  the  Volcano  House.  The  native  house  at 
which  you  will  pass  the  night  is  clean,  and  you  may  there  enjoy  the  novelty  of 
sleeping  on  Hawaiian  mats,  and  under  the  native  cover  of  tapa.  You  must 
bring  with  you  tea  or  coffee,  sugar,  and  bread,  and  such  other  food  as  is  neces 
sary  to  your  comfort.  Sweet-potatoes  and  bananas,  and  chickens  caught  after 
you  arrive,  with  abundant  cocoa-nuts,  are  the  supplies  of  the  place.  The  water 
is  not  good,  and  you  will  probably  drink  only  cocoa-nut  milk,  until,  fifteen  miles 
farther  on,  at  Captain  Eldart's,  you  find  a  pleasant  and  comfortable  resting- 
place  for  the  second  night,  with  a  famous  natural  warm  bath,  very  slightly  min 
eral.  Thence  a  ride  of  twenty-three  miles  brings  you  back  to  Hilo,  all  of  it 
over  lava,  most  of  it  through  a  sterile  country,  but  with  one  small  burst  of  a 
real  paradise  of  tropical  luxuriance,  a  mile  of  tall  forest  and  jungle,  which  looks 
more  like  Brazil  than  Hawaii. 

One  advantage  of  returning  by  way  of  the  Puna  coast,  rather  than  by  the 
direct  route  from  Kilauea,  is  that  you  have  clear,  bright  weather  all  the  way. 
The  configuration  of  the  coast  makes  Puna  sunny  while  Hilo  is  rainy. 

If  you  desire  a  longer  ride  than  that  by  the  Puna  coast,  you  can  cross  the 
island,  from  the  Volcano  House,  by  way  of  Waiahino  and  'Kapapala  to  Kau- 
waloa  on  the  western  coast,  whence  a  schooner  will  bear  you  back  to  Honolulu. 
A  brief  study  of  the  map  of  Hawaii  in  this  volume  will  show  the  different 
routes  suggested  in  this  chapter. 

Moreover,  when  you  are  at  Kilauea,  you  have  done  something  toward  the  as 
cent  of  Mauna  Loa ;  and  guides,  provisions,  and  animals  for  that  enterprise  can 
be  obtained  at  the  Volcano  House,  as  well  as  such  ample  details  of  the  route 
that  I  will  not  here  attempt  any  directions.  It  is  not  an  easy  ride ;  and  you 
must  carry  with  you  warm  clothing.  A  gentleman  who  slept  at  the  summit  in 
September,  1873,  told  me  the  ice  made  over  two  inches  thick  during  the  night. 

If  Mauna  Loa  is  active,  a  traveler  on  the  Islands  ought  by  all  means  to  see 
it ;  for  Dr.  Coan  assures  me  that  it  is  then  one  of  the  most  terrific  and  grand 
sights  imaginable.  I  did  not  visit  it,  as  it  was  not  active  while  I  was  on  the 
Islands,  though  its  fires  were  alive.  The  crater  is  a  pit  about  three  miles  in 
circumference,  with  precipitous  banks  about  two  thousand  feet  deep.  At  the 


HILO,  WITH  SOME  VOLCANOES. 


51 


bottom  is  the  burning  lake,  which  has  a  curious  habit  of  throwing  up  a  jet, 
more  or  less  constant,  of  fiery  lava,  to  the  height,  this  last  summer,  of  four  or 
five  hundred  feet  from  the  surface  of  the  lake.  It  is  a  fine  sight,  but,  of  course, 
somewhat  distant.  I  am  told  that  this  jet  has  at  times  reached  nearly  to  the 
summit  level  of  the  crater ;  and  it  must  then  have  been  a  glorious  spectacle. 

Near  Hilo  are  some  pretty  water-falls  and  several  sugar  plantations,  to  which 
you  can  profitably  give  a  couple  of  days,  and  on  another  you  should  visit  Cocoa- 
nut  Island,  and — as  interesting  a  spot  as  almost  any  on  the  Islands — a  little 
lagoon  on  the  main-land  near  by,  in  which  you  may  see  the  coral  growing,  and 
pick  it  up  in  lovely  specimens  with  the  stones  upon  which  it  has  built  in  these 
shallow  and  protected  waters.  Moreover,  the  surf-beaten  rocks  near  by  yield 
cowries  and  other  shells  in  some  abundance ;  and  I  do  not  know  anywhere  of  a 
pleasanter  picnic  day  than  that  you  can  spend  there. 

Finally,  Hilo  is  one  of  the  very  few  places  on  these  islands  where  you  can 
see  a  truly  royal  sport — the  surf-board.  It  requires  a  rough  day  and  a  heavy 
surf,  but  with  a  good  day  it  is  one  of  the  finest  sights  in  the  world. 

The  surf-board  is  a  tough  plank  about  two  feet  wide  and  from  six  to  twenty 
feet  long,  usually  made  of  the  bread-fruit-tree.  Armed  with  these,  a  party  of 
tall,  muscular  natives  swim  out  to  the  first  line  of  breakers,  and,  watching  their 
chance  to  duck  under  this,  make  their  way  finally,  by  the  help  of  the  under- 


52      NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

tow,  into  the  smooth  water  far  off  beyond  all  the  surf.  Here  they  bob  up  and 
down  on  the  swell  like  so  many  ducks,  watching  their  opportunity.  What  they 
seek  is  a  very  high  swell,  before  which  they  place  themselves,  lying  or  kneeling 
on  the  surf-board.  The  great  wave  dashes  onward,  but  as  its  bottom  strikes 
the  ground,  the  top,  unretarded  in  its  speed  and  force,  breaks  into  a  huge  com 
ber,  and  directly  before  this  the  surf-board  swimmer  is  propelled  with  a  speed 
which  we  timed  and  found  to  exceed  forty  miles  per  hour.  In  fact,  he  goes 
like  lightning,  always  just  ahead  of  the  breaker,  and  apparently  downhill,  pro 
pelled  by  the  vehement  impulse  of  the  roaring  wave  behind  him,  yet  seeming 
to  have  a  speed  and  motion  of  his  own. 

It  is  a  very  surprising  sight  to  see  three  or  four  men  thus  dashed  for  nearly 
a  mile  toward  the  shore  at  the  speed  of  an  express  train,  every  moment  about 
to  be  overwhelmed  by  a  roaring  breaker,  whose  white  crest  was  reared  high 
above  and  just  behind  them,  but  always  escaping  this  ingulfment,  and  pro 
pelled  before  it.  They  look,  kneeling  or  lying  on  their  long  surf -boards,  more 
like  some  curious  and  swift-swimming  fish — like  dolphins  racing,  as  it  seemed 
to  me — than  like  men.  Once  in  a  while,  by  some  mischance  the  cause  of  which 
I  could  not  understand,  the  swimmer  was  overwhelmed;  the  great  comber 
overtook  him ;  he  was  flung  over  and  over  like  a  piece  of  wreck,  but  instantly 
dived,  and  re-appeared  beyond  and  outside  of  the  wave,  ready  to  take  advantage 
of  the  next.  A  successful  shot  launched  them  quite  high  and  dry  on  the  beach 
far  beyond  where  we  stood  to  watch.  Occasionally  a  man  would  stand  erect 
upon  his  surf-board,  balancing  himself  in.  the  boiling  surf  without  apparent 
difficulty. 

The  surf-board  play  is  one  of  the  ancient  sports  of  Hawaii.  I  am  told  that 
few  of  the  younger  generation  are  capable  of  it,  and  that  it  is  thought  to  re 
quire  great  nerve  and  coolness  even  among  these  admirable  swimmers,  and  to 
be  not  without  danger. 

In  your  journeys  to  the  different  islands  you  need  to  take  with  you,  as  part 
of  your  baggage,  saddle  and  bridle,  and  all  the  furniture  of  a  horse.  You  can 
hire  or  buy  a  horse  anywhere  very  cheaply ;  but  saddles  are  often  unattainable, 
and  always  difficult  to  either  borrow  or  hire.  "  You  might  as  well  travel  here 
without  your  boots  as  without  your  saddle,"  said  a  friend  to  me ;  and  I  found 
it  literally  true,  not  only  for  strangers,  but  for  residents  as  well.  Thus  you 
may  notice  that  the  little  steamer's  hold,  as  she  leaves  Honolulu,  contains  but 
few  trunks;  but  is  crowded  with  a  considerable  collection  of  saddles  and 
saddle-bags,  the  latter  the  most  convenient  receptacles  for  your  change  of 
clothing. 

Riding  on  Hawaii  is  often  tiresome,  even  to  one  accustomed  to  the  saddle, 
by  reason  of  the  slow  pace  at  which  you  are  compelled  to  move.  Wherever 
you  stop,  for  lunch  or  for  the  night,  if  there  are  native  people  near,  you  will 
be  greatly  refreshed  by  the  application  of  what  they  call  "  lomi-lomi."  Al- 


HILO,  WITH  SOME  VOLCANOES.  53 

most  everywhere  you  will  find  some  one  skillful  in  this  peculiar  and,  to  tired 
muscles,  delightful  and  refreshing  treatment.  . 

To  be  lomi-lomied,  you  lie  down  upon  a  mat,  loosening  your  clothing,  or  un 
dressing  for  the  night  if  you  prefer.  The  less  clothing  you  have  on  the  more 
perfectly  the  operation  can  be  performed.  To  you  thereupon  comes  a  stout 
native,  with  soft,  fleshy  hands  but  a  strong  grip,  and,  beginning  with  your  head 
and  working  down  slowly  over  the  whole  body,  seizes  and  squeezes  with  a  quite 
peculiar  art  every  tired  muscle,  working  and  kneading  with  indefatigable  pa 
tience,  until  in  half  an  hour,  whereas  you  were  sore  and  weary  and  worn-out, 
you  find  yourself  fresh,  all  soreness  and  weariness  absolutely  and  entirely  re 
moved,  and  mind  and  body  soothed  to  a  healthful  and  refreshing  sleep. 

The  lomi-lomi  is  used  not  only  by  the  natives,  but  among  almost  all  the 
foreign  residents ;  and  not  merely  to  procure  relief  from  weariness  consequent 
on  overexertion,  but  to  cure  headache,  to  relieve  the  aching  of  neuralgic  or 
rheumatic  pains,  and,  by  the  luxurious,  as  one  of  the  pleasures  of  life.  I  have 
known  it  to  relieve  violent  headache  in  a  very  short  time.  The  old  chiefs  used 
to  keep  skillful  lomi-lomi  men  and  women  in  their  retinues ;  and  the  late  king, 
who  was  for  some  years  too  stout  to  take  exercise,  and  was  yet  a  gross  feeder, 
had  himself  lomi-lomied  after  every  meal,  as  a  means  of  helping  his  digestion. 

It  is  a  device  for  relieving  pain  or  weariness  which  seems  to  have  no  injuri 
ous  reaction  and  no  drawback  but  one — it  is  said  to  fatten  the  subjects  of  it. 


54       NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


LAIiAINA,  ISLAND   OF  MAUI. 


CHAPTER  III. 
MAUI,  AND  THE  SUGAR  CULTURE. 

MAUI  lies  between  Oahu  and  Hawaii,  and  is  somewhat  larger  than  the  first- 
named  island.  It  contains  the  most  considerable  sugar-plantations,  and 
yields  more  of  this  product  than  any  one  of  the  other  islands.  It  is  notable 
also  for  possessing  the  mountain  of  Haleakala,  an  extinct  volcano  ten  thousand 
feet  high,  which  has  the  largest  crater  in  the  world — a  monstrous  pit,  thirty 
miles  in  circumference,  and  two  thousand  feet  deep. 

There  is  some  reason  to  believe  that  Maui  was  originally  two  islands,  the 
northern  and  southern  parts  being  joined  together  by  an  immense  sandy  plain, 
so  low  that  in  misty  weather  it  is  hardly  to  be  distinguished  from  the  ocean ; 
and  some  years  ago  a  ship  actually  ran  aground  upon  it,  sailing  for  what  the 
captain  imagined  to  be  an  open  passage. 

Maui  has  also  the  famous  Wailuku  Valley,  a  picturesque  gorge  several  miles 
deep,  and  giving  you  a  very  fair  example  of  the  broken,  verdure-clad,  and  now 
lonely  valleys  of  these  islands ;  which  are  in  reality  steep,  narrow  canons,  worn 
out  of  the  mountains  by  the  erosion  of  water.  The  old  Hawaiians  seem  to 
have  cared  little  how  difficult  a  piece  of  country  was ;  they  not  only  made  their 


MAUI,  AND  THE  SUGAR  CULTURE. 


55 


taro  patches  in  the  streams  which  roar  at  the  bottoms  of  such  gorges,  but  they 
fought  battles  among  the  precipices  which  you  find  at  the  upper  ends  of  these 
valleys,  where  the  defeated  usually  met  their  deaths  by  plunging  down  into 
the  stream  far  below. 

After  seeing  a  live  or  burning  crater  like  Kilauea,  Haleakala,  I  thought, 
would  be  but  a  dull  sight;  but  it  is,  on  the  contrary,  extremely  well  worth  a 
visit.  The  islands  have  no  sharp  or  angular  volcanic  peaks.  Mauna  Loa  and 
Mauna  Kea,  on  Hawaii,  though  14,000  feet  high,  are  mere  bulbs— vast  hills,  not 
mountains ;  and  the  ascent  to  the  summit  of  Haleakala,  though  you  surmount 
10,000  feet,  is  neither  dangerous  nor  difficult.  It  is  tedious,  however,  for  it  in 
volves  a  ride  of  about  twelve  miles,  mostly  over  lava,  uphill.  It  is  best  to  ride 
up  during  the  day,  and  sleep  at  or  near  the  summit,  where  there  are  one  or  two 
so-called  caves  in  the  lava,  broken  lava-bubbles  in  fact,  sufficiently  roomy  to 


CASCADE  AND  RIVER  OF   LAVA— FLOW   OF   1869. 

accommodate  several  persons.  You  must  take  with  you  a  guide,  provisions,  and 
blankets,  for  the  nights  are  cold ;  and  you  find  near  the  summit  water,  wood 
enough  for  a  small  fire,  and  forage  for  your  horses.  Each  person  should  have 
water-proof  clothing,  for  it  is  very  likely  to  rain,  at  least  on  the  Makawao  side. 

The  great  crater  is  best  seen  at  sunrise,  and,  if  you  are  so  fortunate  as  to 
have  a  tolerably  clear  sky,  you  may  see,  lying  far  away  below  you,  almost  all 
of  the  islands.  Hawaii  lies  far  enough  away  to  reveal  its  entire  outline,  with 
Mauna  Loa  and  Mauna  Kea  rising  near  either  end,  and  the  depression  near 
which  lies  Kilauea  in  the  middle.  The  cloud  effects  at  sunrise  and  sunset  are 
marvelous,  and  alone  repay  the  ascent. 

But  the  crater  itself,  clear  of  fog  and  clouds  in  the  early  morning,  and  light 
ed  up  by  the  rising  sun,  is  a  most  surprising  sight.  It  is  ten  miles  in  di 
ameter,  and  the  bottom  lies  2000  feet  below  where  you  stand.  The  vast 


56      NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

irregular  floor  contains  more  than  a  dozen  subsidiary  craters  or  great  cones, 
some  of  them  750  feet  high,  and  nearly  as  large  as  Diamond  Head.  At  the 
Kaupo  and  Koolau  gaps,  indicated  on  the  map,  the  lava  is  supposed  to  have 
burst  through  and  made  its  way  down  the  mountain  sides.  The  cones  are  dis 
tinctly  marked  as  you  look  down  upon  them ;  and  it  is  remarkable  that  from 
the  summit  the  eye  takes  in  the  whole  crater,  and  notes  all  its  contents,  dimin 
ished  of  course  by  their  great  distance.  Not  a  tree,  shrub,  or  even  tuft  of 
grass  obstructs  the  view. 

To  describe  such  a  scene  is  impossible. .  A  study  of  the  map,  with  the  figures 
showing  elevations,  will  give  you  a  better  idea  of  it  than  a  long  verbal  descrip 
tion.  It  is  an  extraordinarily  desolate  scene.  A  few  wild  goats  scramble  over 
the  rocks,  or  rush  down  the  nearly  perpendicular  cliff ;  occasionally  a  solitary 
bird  raises  its  harsh  note ;  the  wind  howls  fiercely ;  and  as  you  lie  under  the 
lee  of  a  mass  of  lava,  taking  in  the  scene  and  picking  out  the  details  as  the 
rising  sun  brings  them  out  one  by  one,  presently  the  mist  begins  to  pour  into 
the  crater,  and  often  by  ten  o'clock  fills  it  up  completely. 

The  natives  have  no  tradition  of  Haleakala  in  activity.  There  are  signs  of 
several  lava  flows,  and  of  one  in  particular,  clearly  much  more  recent  than  the 
others.  It  must  have  presented  a  magnificent  and  terrible  sight  when  it  was 
in  full  activity.  I  did  not  ride  into  the  crater,  but  it  is  possible  to  do  so,  and 
the  natives  have  a  trail,  not  much  used,  by  which  they  pass.  If  you  descend, 
be  careful  not  to  leave  or  lose  this  trail,  for  in  many  parts  your  horse  will  not 
be  able  to  get  back  to  it  if  you  suffer  him  to  stray  off  even  a  few  yards,  the 
lava  is  so  sharp  and  jagged.  As  you  descend  the  mountain  on  the  Makawao 
side  you  will  notice  two  finely  shaped  craters  on  the  side  of  the  mountain,  which 
also  in  their  time  spewed  out  lava.  Nearer  the  coast  your  eye,  become  familiar 
with  the  peculiar  shape  of  these  cones  or  craters,  will  notice  yet  others ;  and, 
indeed,  to  appreciate  the  peculiarities  of  Sandwich  Island  scenery,  in  which  ex 
tinct  craters  and  cones  of  all  sizes  have  so  great  a  part,  it  is  necessary  to  have 
visited  Kilauea  and  Haleakala.  The  latter  name,  by-the-way,  means  "  House 
of  the  Sun ;"  and  as  you  watch  the  rising  sun  entering  and  apparently  tak 
ing  possession  of  the  vast  gloomy  depths,  you  will  think  the  name  admirably 
chosen. 

If  you  carry  a  gun  you  are  likely  to  have  a  shot  at  wild  turkeys  on  your 
way  up  or  down.  It  is  remarkable  that  many  of  our  domestic  animals  easily 
become  wild  on  the  islands.  There  are  wild  goats,  wild  cats,  wild  chickens  and 
turkeys ;  the  cattle  run  wild ;  and  on  Hawaii  one  man  at  least  has  been  killed 
and  torn  to  pieces  by  wild  dogs,  which  run  in  packs  in  some  parts  of  the  island. 

Sugar-plantations  are  found  on  all  four  of  the  larger  islands;  and  on  all  of 
them  there  are  successful  examples  of  this  enterprise ;  but  Maui  contains,  I  be 
lieve,  the  greatest  number,  and  is  thought  to  be  the  best  fitted  for  the  business. 
It  is  on  this  island,  therefore,  that  the  curious  traveler  can  see  this  industry 


MAUI,  AND  THE  SUGAR  CULTURE. 


57 


MAP  OF  TUB  HALEAKALA  CEATEB. 


under  its  most  favorable  aspects.  There  is  no  doubt  that  for  the  production 
of  sugar  these  islands  offer  some  extraordinary  advantages. 

I  have  seen  a  field  of  thirty  acres  which  two  years  ago  produced  nearly  six 
tons  of  sugar  to  the  acre.  Four  tons  per  acre  is  not  a  surprising  crop;  and, 
from  all  I  can  hear,  I  judge  that  two  and  a  half  tons  per  acre  may  be  consid 
ered  a  fair  ^ield.  The  soil,  too,  with  proper  treatment,  appears  to  be  inex 
haustible.  The  common  custom  is  to  take  off  two  crops,  and  then  let  the  field 
lie  fallow  for  two  years ;  but  where  they  irrigate  even  this  is  not  always  done. 
There  is  no  danger  of  frost,  as  in  Louisiana,  and  cane  is  planted  in  some  part 
of  the  islands  in  almost  every  month  of  the  year.  In  Lahaina  it  matures  in 
from  fourteen  to  sixteen  months ;  in  some  districts  it  requires  eighteen  months ; 
and  at  greater  altitudes  even  two  years. 

But  under  all  the  varying  circumstances,  whether  it  is  irrigated  or  not,  wheth 
er  it  grows  on  bottoms  or  on  hill  slopes,  in  dry  or  in  damp  regions,  everywhere 
the  cane  seems  to  thrive,  and  undoubtedly  it  is  the  one  product  of  the  islands 
which  succeeds.  A  worm,  which  pierces  the  cane  near  the  ground  and  eats 
out  the  pith,  has  of  late,  I  am  told,  done  some  damage,  and  in  some  parts  the 
rat  has  proved  troublesome.  But  these  evils  do  not  anywhere  endanger  or 
ruin  the  crop,  as  the  blight  has  ruined  the  coffee  culture  and  discouraged  other 
agricultural  ventures.  The  sugar  product  of  the  islands  has  constantly  in 
creased.  In  1860  they  exported  1,444,271  pounds  of  sugar;  in  1864, 10,414,441 
pounds;  in  1868, 18,312,926  pounds;  and  in  1871,  21,760,773  pounds  of  sugar. 

What  is  remarkable  is  that,  with  this  rapid  increase  in  the  production  of 
sugar,  you  hear  that  the  business  is  unprosperous ;  and  if  to  this  you  reply  that 


58      NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

planters,  like  farmers,  are  hard  to  satisfy,  they  show  you  that  the  greater  num 
ber  of  the  plantations  have  at  some  time  been  sold  by  the  sheriff,  some  of  them 
more  than  once,  and  that,  in  fact,  only  six  or  seven  are  to-day  in  the  hands  of 
their  founders. 

I  do  not  doubt  that  there  has  been  bad  management  on  many  plantations, 
and  that  this  accounts  in  part  for  these  failures,  by  which  many  hundred  thou 
sand  dollars  have  been  lost.  For  the  advantages  of  the  sugar  planter  on  these 
islands  are  very  decided.  He  has  not  only,  as  I  showed  you  above,  a  favorable 
climate  and  an  extraordinarily  fertile  soil,  but  he  has  a  laboring  population, 
perhaps  the  best,  the  most  easily  managed,  the  kindliest,  and — so  far  as  habits 
affect  the  steadiness  and  usefulness  of  the  laborer — the  least  vicious  in  the 
world.  He  does  not  have  to  pay  exorbitant  wages ;  he  is  not  embarrassed  to 
feed  or  house  them,  for  food  is  so  abundant  and  cheap  that  economy  in  its  dis 
tribution  is  of  no  moment ;  and  the  Hawaiian  is  very  cheaply  housed. 

But  bad  management  by  no  means  accounts  for  all  the  non-success.  There 
are  some  natural  disadvantages  serious  enough  to  be  taken  into  the  account. 
In  the  first  place,  you  must  understand  that  the  rain-fall  varies  extraordinarily. 
The  trade- wind  brings  rain ;  the  islands  are  bits  of  mountain  ranges ;  the  side 
of  the  mountain  which  lies  toward  the  rain- wind  gets  rain ;  the  lee  side  gets 
scarcely  any.  At  Hilo  it  rains  almost  constantly ;  at  Lahaina  they  get  hardly 
a  shower  a  year.  At  Captain  Makee's,  one  of  the  most  successful  plantations 
on  Ma-ui,  water  is  stored  in  cisterns ;  at  Mr.  Spencer's,  not  a  dozen  miles  dis 
tant,  also  one  of  the  successful  plantations,  which  lies  on  the  other  side  of 
Mount  Haleakala,  they  never  have  to  irrigate.  Near  Hilo  the  lonf  rains  make 
cultivation  costly  and  difficult ;  but  the  water  is  so  abundant  that  they  run  their 
fire-wood  from  the  mountains  and  their  cane  from  the  fields  into  the  sugar- 
houses  in  flumes,  at  a  very  great  saving  of  labor.  Near  Lahaina  every  acre 
must  be  irrigated,  and  this  work  proceeds  day  and  night  in  order  that  no  water 
may  run  to  waste. 

Then  there  is  the  matter  of  shipping  sugar.  There  are  no  good  ports  except 
Honolulu.  Kaalui  jon  Maui,  Hanalei  and  Nawiliwili  on  Kauai,  and  one  or  two 
plantations  on  Oahu,  have  tolerable  landings.  But  almost  everywhere  the  sugar 
is  sent  over  vile  roads  to  a  more  or  less  difficult  landing,  whence  it  is  taken  in 
launches  to  the  schooners  which  carry  it  to  Honolulu,  where  it  is  stored,  coop 
ered,  and  finally  reshipped  to  its  market.  Many  landings  are  made  through 
the  surf,  and  I  remember  one  which,  last  spring,  was  unapproachable  by  vessel 
or  boat  for  nearly  four  weeks. 

Each  sugar  planter  has,  therefore,  problems  of  his  own  to  solve.  He  can  not 
pattern  on  his  neighbors.  lie  can  not  base  his  estimate  on  theirs.  He  can  not 
be  certain  even,  until  he  has  tried,  which  of  the  ten  or  a  dozen  varieties  of  cane 
will  do  best  on  his  soil.  He  must  look  out  for  wood,  which  is  by  no  means 
abundant,  and  is  often  costly  to  bring  down  from  the  mountain  ;  he  must  look 


MAUI,  AND  THE  SUGAR  CULTURE.  59 

out  for  his  landing;  must  see  that  taro  grows  near  at  hand;  must  secure  pas 
ture  for  his  draught  cattle :  in  short,  he  must  consider  carefully  and  independ 
ently  many  different  questions  before  he  can  be  even  reasonably  sure  of  suc 
cess.  And  if,  with  all  this  uncertainty,  he  embarks  with  insufficient  capital, 
and  must  pay  one  per  cent,  a  month  interest,  and  turn  his  crop  over  to  an  agent 
in  Honolulu,  who  is  his  creditor,  and  who  charges  him  five  per  cent,  for  hand 
ling  it,  it  will  not  be  wonderful  to  any  business  man  if  he  fails  to  grow  rich, 
or  if  even  he  by-and-by  becomes  bankrupt.  Many  have  failed.  Of  thirty-four 
plantations,  the  number  worked  in  all  the  islands  at  this  time,  only  six  or  seven 
are  in  the  hands  of  their  founders.  Some,  which  cost  one  hundred  thousand 
dollars,  were  sold  by  the  sheriff  for  fifteen  or  eighteen  thousand ;  some,  which 
cost  a  quarter  of  a  million,  were  sold  for  less  than  a  hundred  thousand. 

If  you  speak  with  the  planters,  they  will  tell  you  that  their  great  difficulty 
is  to  get  a  favorable  market ;  that  the  duty  on  their  sugar  imported  into  San 
Francisco  eats  up  their  profits ;  and  that  the  only  cure — the  cure-all,  I  should 
say,  for  all  the  ills  they  suffer — is  a  treaty  with  the  United  States,  which  shall 
admit  their  product  duty  free.  Of  course  any  one  can  see  that  if  the  sugar 
duty  were  remitted  to  them,  the  planters  would  make  more  money,  or  would 
lose  less.  An  ingenuous  planter  summed  up  for  me  one  day  the  whole  of  that 
side  of  the  case,  by  saying,  "  If  we  had  plenty  of  labor  and  a  free  market  for 
our  sugar,  we  should  be  thoroughly  satisfied." 

But  I  am  persuaded  that,  as  there  are  planters  now  who  are  prosperous  and 
contented,  and  who  make  handsome  returns  even  with  the  sugar  duty  against 
them,  so,  if  that  were  removed,  there  would  be  planters  who  would  continue 
their  regular  and  slow  march  toward  bankruptcy ;  and  for  whom  the  remitted 
duty  would  be  but  a  temporary  respite,  while  it  would  deprive  them  of  a  cheap 
and  easy  way  to  account  for  their  failure.  Wherever  on  the  islands  I  found  a 
planter  living  on  his  own  plantation,  managing  it  himself,  and  out  of  debt,  I 
found  him  making  money,  even  with  low  prices  for  his  sugar,  and  even  if  the 
plantation  itself  was  not  favorably  placed  ;  not  only  this,  but  I  found  plantations 
yielding  steady  and  sufficient  profits,  under  judicious  management,  which  in 
previous  hands  became  bankrupt.  But  on  the  other  hand,  where  I  found  a 
plantation  heavily  encumbered  with  debt  and  managed  by  a  superintendent, 
the  owner  living  elsewhere,  I  heard  usually,  though  not  always,  complaints  of 
hard  times.  If  a  sugar  planter  has  his  land  and  machinery  heavily  mortgaged 
at  ten  or  twelve  per  cent,  interest ;  if  he  must,  moreover,  borrow  money  on  his 
crop  in  the  field  to  enable  him  to  turn  that  into  sugar;  if  then  he  sends  the 
product  to  an  agent  in  Honolulu,  who  charges  him  five  per  cent,  for  shipping 
it  to  San  Francisco;  and  if  in  San  Francisco  another  agent  charges  him  five 
per  cent,  more,  on  the  gross  returns  including  freight  and  duty,  for  selling  it ; 
if  besides  all  this  the  planter  buys  his  supplies  on  credit,  and  is  charged  one 
per  cent,  a  month  on  these,  compounded  every  three  months  until  it  is  paid, 


60       NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

and  pays  almost  as  much  freight  on  his  sugar  from  the  plantation  to  Honolulu 
as  from  there  to  its  final  market — it  is  highly  probable  that  he  will,  in  the 
course  of  time,  fail. 

There  are  not  many  legitimate  enterprises  in  the  world  which  would  bear 
such  charges  and  leave  a  profit  to  the  manager.  But  it  is  on  this  system  that 
the  planting  of  sugar  has  been,  to  a  large  extent,  carried  on  for  years  in  the 
Islands.  Under  it  a  good  deal  of  money  has  been  made,  but  not  by  the  plant 
ers.  Nor  is  this  essentially  unjust.  In  the  majority  of  cases,  planters  began 
rashly  with  small  means,  and  had  to  borrow  largely  to  complete  their  enterprises 
and  get  to  work.  The  capitalist  of  course  took  a  part  of  the  profits  as  interest. 
But  the  capitalist  was  in  many  cases  also  the  agent  and  store-keeper  in  Honolu 
lu  ;  and  he  shaved  off  percentages — all  in  the  way  of  business — until  the  plant 
er  was  really  no  more  than  the  foreman  of  his  agent  and  creditor.  When,  under 
such  circumstances,  a  planter  complained  that  he  did  not  make  the  fortune  he 
anticipated,  and  reasoned  that  therefore  sugar  planting  in  the  Islands  is  un 
profitable,  he  seemed  to  me  to  speak  beside  the  question — for  his  agent  and 
creditor,  his  employer  in  fact,  made  no  complaint :  he  always  made  money ;  and 
as  he  had  invested  the  money  to  carry  on  the  enterprise,  this  was  but  the  nat 
ural  result. 

The  planters  make  a  grave  mistake  in  not  acting  together  and  advising  to 
gether  on  their  most  important  interests.  There  are  so  few  of  them  that  it 
should  be  easy  to  unite ;  and  yet  for  lack  of  concerted  action  they  suffer  im 
portant  abuses  to  go  on.  For  instance,  it  is  a  serious  loss  to  the  planter  that 
when  he  ships  or  engages  a  hand  he  must  pay  a  large  "  advance,"  amounting 
usually  to  at  least  half  a  year's  pay.  This  custom  is  hurtful  to  the  laborer,  who 
wastes  it,  and  it  inflicts  a  serious  loss  upon  the  planter.  Suppose  he  employs  a 
hundred  men,  and  pays  fifty  dollars  advance,  he  invests  at  once  five  thousand 
dollars  for  which  he  gets  no  interest,  though  if,  as  is  probable,  he  borrowed  it, 
he  must  pay  one  per  cent,  a  month.  This  abuse  coulcfr  be  abolished  in  a  day  by 
the  simple  announcement  that  no  planter  would  hereafter  pay  more  than  ten 
dollars  advance.  But  it  has  gone  on  for  years,  and  the  sum  paid  gets  higher 
every  year  merely  by  the  planters  outbidding  each  other. 

Again,  it  is  possible  to  ship  sugar  from  some  of  the  Islands  direct  to  San 
Francisco,  and  for  but  little  more  than  is  now  paid  for  shipping  it  to  Honolulu. 
Half  a  dozen  planters  on  Hawaii  or  Maui,  clubbing  together,  could  easily  get  a 
ship  or  half  a  dozen  ships  to  come  for  their  sugar,  and  thus  save  five  per  cent. 
on  their  gross  returns,  now  paid  to  agents.  But  this  is  not  done,  partly  be 
cause  so  many  planters  are  in  need  of  money,  which  they  borrow  in  Honolulu, 
.with  the  understanding  that  they  will  submit  their  produce  to  the  management 
of  agents  there. 

Again,  the  planters  err,  I  think,  in  not  giving  personal  study  to  the  question 
of  a  market  for  their  sugar.  They  leave  this  to  the  agents  to  manage.  No 


MAUI,  AND  THE  SUGAR  CULTURE.  61 

doubt  these  gentlemen  are  competent ;  but  it  is  easy  to  see  that  their  interests 
may  be  somewhat  different  from  those  of  the  planter.  For  instance,  some 
years  ago  an  arrangement  was  offered  by  the  San  Francisco  sugar  refineries 
by  which  these  agreed  to  take  two-thirds  of  the  product  of  the  plantations  in 
crude  sugar,  to  furnish  bags  to  contain  this  product,  and  to  pay  cash  for  it  in 
Honolulu.  Under  this  system  the  planter  was  saved  the  heavy  expense  of 
sugar  kegs,  and  the  cost  of  two  agencies  of  five  per  cent,  each,  besides  getting 
cash  in  Honolulu,  whereas  now  his  sugar  is  usually  sold  at  three  months  in  San 
Francisco,  and  he  probably  loses  six  months'  interest,  reckoning  from  the  time 
his  sugar  leaves  the  plantation.  This  arrangement,  several  planters  told  me, 
was  profitable  to  them ;  but  it  was  discontinued — it  was  not  to  the  advantage  of 
the  agents ;  its  discontinuance  was  no  doubt  a  blunder  for  the  planters.  More 
over,  the  Australian  market  has  been  too  long  neglected ;  but  the  advantage  of 
possessing  two  markets  instead  of  one  is  too  obvious  to  require  statement. 

It  is  a  reasonable  conclusion,  from  all  the  facts  in  the  case,  that  sugar  plant 
ing  can  be  carried  on  at  a  fair  and  satisfactory  profit  in  tl)e  Hawaiian  Islands, 
wherever  skill  and  careful  personal  attention  are  given,  and  due  economy  en 
forced  by  a  planter  who  has  at  the  same  time  sufficient  capital  to  carry  on  the 
business.  The  example  of  Captain  Makee  and  Mr.  A.  II.  Spencer  on  Maui,  of 
Mr.  Isenberg  on  Kauai  and  others  sufficiently  prove  this. 

If  I  seem  to  have  given  more  space  to  this  sugar  question  than  it  appears  to 
deserve  at  the  hands  of  a  passing  traveler,  it  is  because  sugar  enters  largely 
into  the  politics  of  the  Islands.  It  is  the  sugar  interest  which  urges  the  offer 
of  Pearl  River  to  the  United  States  in  exchange  for  a  treaty  of  reciprocity; 
and  it  is  when  sugar  is  low-priced  at  San  Francisco  that  the  small  company  of 
annexationists  raises  its  voice,  and  sometimes  threatens  to  raise  its  flag. 

There  is  room  on  the  different  islands  for  about  seventy-five  or  eighty  more 
plantations  on  the  scale  now  common ;  and  there  are,  I  think,  still  .excellent  op 
portunities  for  making  plantations.  The  sugar  lands  unoccupied  are  not  high- 
priced  ;  and  men  skilled  in  this  industry,  and  with  sufficient  capital,  can  do  well 
there,  and  live  in  a  delightful  climate  and  among  pleasant  society,  in  a  country 
where,  as  I  have  before  said,  life  and  property  are  more  absolutely  secure  than 
anywhere  else  in  the  world.  But  I  strongly  advise  every  one  to  avoid  debt. 
It  has  been  the  curse  of  the  planters,  even  of  those  who  have  kept  out  of  debt, 
for  it  has  prevented  such  unity  of  action  among  them  as  must  have  before 
this  enabled  them  to  effect  important  improvements.  For  instance,  were  they 
out  of-  debt  there  is  no  reason  that  I  can  see  why  they  should  not  succeed  in 
making  their  market  in  Honolulu,  and  drawing  purchasers  thither  instead  of 
sending  their  sugar  to  far-off  markets  at  their  own  risk  and  expense.  If  ships 
can  afford  to  sail  in  ballast  to  more  distant  islands  for  guano,  calling  at  Honolulu 
on  the  way,  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  they  could  afford  to  come  thither  for 
the  more  valuable  sugar  cargoes. 


32      NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


WAILUKU,  ISLAND   OF   MAUI. 


The  planters  err,  I  think,  in  not  planting  the  mountain  sides,  wherever  these 
are  accessible  and  have  soil,  with  trees.  The  forests  of  the  country  are  rapidly 
disappearing,  especially  from  the  higher  plains  and  the  grass-bearing  slopes. 
Not  only  is  the  wood  cut  for  burning,  but  the  cattle  browse  down  the  young 
growth ;  and  a  pestilent  grub  has  of  late  attacke'd  the  older  trees  and  destroyed 
them  in  great  numbers.  Already  complaints  are  heard  of  the  greater  dryness 
and  infertility  of  certain  localities,  which  I  do  not  doubt  comes  from  suffering 
the  ground  to  become  bare.  At  several  points  I  was  told  that  the  streams 
were  permanently  lower  than  in  former  years — of  course  because  evaporation 
goes  on  more  rapidly  near  their  head  waters  now  that  the  ground  is  bare. 
But  little  care  or  forethought  is  exercised  in  such  matters,  however.  A  few 
extensive  plantations  of  trees  have  been  made,  notably  by  Captain  Makee  on 
Maui,  who  has  set  out  a  large  number  of  Australian  gum  trees.  The  universal 
habit  of  letting  cattle  run  abroad,  and  the  dearness  of  lumber  for  fencing, 
discourages  tree  planting,  which  yet  will  be  found  some  day  one  of  the  most 
profitable  investments  in  the  islands,  I  believe ;  and  I  was  sorry  to  see  in  many 
places  cocoa-nut  groves  dying  out  of  old  age  and  neglect,  and  no  young  trees 
planted  to  replace  them. 

It  remains  to  describe  to  you  the  "contract  labor"  system  by  which  the 
sugar-plantations  are  carried  on.  This  has  been  frequently  and,  as  it  seems  to 


MAUI,  AND  THE  SUGAR  CULTURE.  03 

me,  unjustly  abused  as  a  system  of  slavery.  The  laborers  hire  themselves  out 
for  a  stated  period,  usually,  in  the  case  of  natives,  for  a  year,  and  in  the  case  of 
Chinese  for  five  years.  The  contract  runs  in  English  and  in  Hawaiian  or  Chi 
nese,  and  is  sufficiently  simple.  Thus  : 

"2T|)fs  ^flteement,  made  and  entered  into  this day  of ,  A.D.  18—,  by  and  between 

the  owners  of  the plantation,  in  the  island  of ,  party  of  the  first  part,  and , 

party  of  the  second  part,  witnesseth  : 

"  I.  The  said  party  of  the  second  part  promises  to  perform  such  labor  upon  the plantation, 

in  the  district  of .  island  of ,  as  the  said  party  of  the  first  part  shall  direct,  and  that  he 

will  faithfully  and  punctually  perform  the  same  as  becomes  a  good  workman,  and  that  he  will  obey 
all  lawful  commands  of  the  said  party  of  the  first  part,  their  agents  or  overseers,  during  the  term 
of months,  each  month  to  consist  of  twenty-six  working  days. 

"II.  The  party  of  the  first  part  will  well  and  truly  pay,  or  cause  to  be  paid,  unto  the  said  party 
of  the  second  part,  at  the  end  of  each  month  during  which  this  contract  shall  remain  in  force,  com 
pensation  or  wages  at  the  rate  of dollars  for  each  month,  if  said  party  of  the  second  part  shall 

well  and  truly  perform  his  labor  as  aforesaid." 

The  law  requires  that  this  contract  shall  be  signed  before  a  notary  public. 
The  wages  are  usually  eight  dollars  per  month  and  food,  or  eleven  dollars  per 
month  without  food ;  from  which  you  will  see  that  three  dollars  per  month 
will  buy  sufficient  poi,  beef,  and  fish  to  support  a  native  laborer  in  these  islands. 
The  engagement  is  entirely  voluntary;  the  men  understand  what  they  contract 
to  do,  and  in  all  the  plantations  where  they  are  well  treated  they  re-enlist  with 
great  regularity.  The  vicious  custom  of  "  advances  "  mentioned  above  has  be 
come  a  part  of  the  system ;  it  arose,  I  suppose,  from  the  fact  that  the  natives 
who  shipped  as  whalemen  received  advance  pay;  and  thus  the  plantation  labor 
ers  demanded  it  too.  The  laborers  are  commonly  housed  in  detached  cottages, 
and  live  with  their  families,  the  women  forming  an  important,  irregular  labor 
ing  force  at  seasons  when  the  work  is  hurried.  But  they  are  not  "contract" 
laborers,  but  paid  by  the  day.  It  has  been  found  the  best  plan  on  most  of  the 
plantations  to  feed  the  people,  and  food  is  so  cheap  that  it  is  supplied  with 
out  stint. 

This  system  has  been  vigorously,  but,  I  believe,  wrongly,  attacked.  The  re 
cent  census  is  an  uncommonly  barren  document ;  but  there  is  strong  reason  to 
believe  that  while  there  is  a  general  decrease  in  the  population,  on  the  planta 
tions  there  is  but  little  if  any  decrease.  In  fact,  the  Hawaiian  living  in  his 
valley  on  his  kuliana  or  small  holding,  leads  an  extremely  irregular  life.  He 
usually  sups  at  midnight,  sleeps  a  good  deal  during  the  day,  and  has  much  idle 
time  on  his  hands.  On  the  plantations  he  works  regularly  and  not  too  hard, 
eats  at  stated  intervals,  and  sleeps  all  night.  This  regularity  conduces  to  health. 
Moreover,  he  receives  prompt  and  sufficient  medical  attendance,  he  lives  a  more 
social  and  interesting  life,  and  he  is  as  well  fed,  and  mostly  better  lodged. 
There  are  very  few  instances  of  abuse  or  cruelty;  indeed,  a  plantation  manager 


64      NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

said  to  me,  "  If  I  were  to  wrong  or  abuse  one  of  my  men,  he  would  persuade  a 
dozen  or  twenty  others  not  to  re-enlist  when  their  terms  are  out,  and  would 
fatally  embarrass  me ;"  for  it  is  not  easy  to  get  laborers. 

There  is  good  reason  to  believe,  therefore,  that  the  plantation  laborers  are 
healthier,  more  prosperous,  and  just  as  happy  as  those  who  live  independently; 
and  it  is  a  fact  that  on  most  of  the  islands  the  greater  part  of  the  younger  peo 
ple  are  found  on  the  plantations.  Churches  are  established  on  or  very  near  all 
the  sugar  estates,  and  the  children  are  rigorously  kept  at  school  there  as  else 
where.  The  people  take  their  newspaper,  discuss  their  affairs,  and  have  usually 
a  leader  or  two  among  the  foremen.  On  one  plantation  one  of  the  foremen  in 
the  field  was  pointed  out  to  me :  he  was  a  member  of  the  Legislature. 

There  is  a  good  deal  of  complaint  of  a  scarcity  of  labor.  If  more  plantations 
were  opened  it  would  be  necessary  to  import  laborers ;  but  for  the  present,  it 
seems  to  me,  the  supply  is  not  deficient.  Doubtless,  however,  many  planters 
would  extend  their  operations  if  they  could  get  workmen  readily.  Chinese 
have  been  brought  over,  though  not  in  great  numbers ;  and  of  late  the  absurd 
and  cruel  persecution  of  these  people  in  California  has  driven  several  hundred 
to  take  refuge  in  the  Islands,  where  they  are  kindly  treated  and  can  live  com 
fortably. 

The  machinery  used  in  the  sugar-houses  is  usually  of  the  best;  the  larger 
plantations  all  use  vacuum-pans ;  and  the  planters  are  usually  intelligent  gen 
tlemen,  familiar  with  the  best  methods  of  producing  sugar,  and  with  the  latest 
improvements.  Yet  it  is  a  question  whether  the  expensive  machinery  is  not  in 
the  long  run  a  disadvantage,  as  it  disables  them  from  profitably  making  those 
low  grades  of  sugar  which  can  be  cheaply  turned  out  with  the  help  of  an  "  open 
train,"  and  which  appear  to  have,  in  these  days,  the  most  ready  sale  and  the 
best  market. 


KAUAI,  WITH  A  GLANCE  AT  CATTLE  AND  SHEEP. 


65 


KEAPAWEO  MOUNTAIN,  KAUAI. 


CHAPTER  IV. 
KAUAI,  WITH  A  GLANCE  AT  CATTLE  AND  SHEEP. 

~T7~  AUAI  lies  farthest  to  leeward  of  the  main  islands  of  the  Hawaiian  group; 
J-V,  the  steamer  visits  it  usually  but  once  a  month ;  and  the  best  way  to  see 
it  without  unnecessary  waste  of  time  is  to  take  passage  in  a  schooner,  so  timing 
your  visit  as  to  leave  you  a  week  or  ten  days  on  the  island  before  the  steamer 
arrives  to  carry  you  back. 

We  took  passage  on  a  little  sugar  schooner,  the  Fairy  Queen,  of  about  sev 
enty-five  tons,  commanded  by  a  smart  native  captain,  and  sailing  one  a'fternoon 
about  two  o'clock,  and  sleeping  comfortably  on  deck  wrapped  in  rugs,  were 
landed  at  Wairaea  the  following  morning  at  day-break. 

When  you  travel  on  one  of  these  little  native  schooners  you  must  provide 
food  for  yourself,  for  poi  and  a  little  beef  or  fish  make  up  the  sea  ration  as  well 
as  the  land  food  of  the  Hawaiian.  In  all  other  respects  you  may  expect  to  be 
treated  with  the  most  distinguished  consideration  and  the  most  ready  and 
thoughtful  kindness  by  captain  and  crew;  and  the  picturesque  mountain 
scenery  of  Oahu,  which  you  have  in  sight  so  long  as  daylight  lasts,  and  the 
lovely  star-lit  night,  with  its  soft  gales  and  warm  air,  combine  to  make  the  voy 
age  a  delightful  adventure. 


C6       NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

As  usual  in  these  Islands,  a  church  was  the  first  and  most  conspicuous  land 
mark  which  greeted  our  eyes  in  the  morning.  Abundant  groves  of  cocoa-nuts, 
for  which  the  place  is  famous,  assured  us  of  a  refreshing  morning  draught. 
The  little  vessel  was  anchored  off  the  shore,  and  our  party,  jumping  into  a 
whale-boat,  were  quickly  and  skillfully  steered  through  the  slight  surf  which 
pours  upon  the  beach.  The  boat  was  pulled  upon  the  black  sand ;  and  the  lady 
who  was  of  my  party  found  herself  carried  to  the  land  in  the  stout  arms  of 
the  captain ;  while  the  rest  of  us  watched  our  chance,  and,  as  the  waves  receded, 
leaped  ashore,  and  managed  to  escape  with  dry  feet.  The  sun  had  not  yet 
risen ;  the  early  morning  was  a  little  overcast.  A  few  natives,  living  on  the 
beach,  gathered  around  and  watched  curiously  the  landing  of  our  saddles  and 
saddle-bags  from  the  boat ;  presently  that  pushed  off,  and  our  little  company 
sat  down  upon  an  old  spar,  and  watched  the  schooner  as  she  hoisted  sails 


-^s*   ~i  ' 

OUA1N    OF   EXTINCT    VOLCANOES   NEAR    KOLOA,  ISLAND    OF   KAUAI. 

and  bore  away  for  her  proper  port,  while  we  waited  for  the  appearance  of  a 
native  person  of  some  authority  to  whom  a  letter  had  been  directed,  request 
ing  him  to  provide  us  with  horses  and  a  guide  to  the  house  of  a  friend  with 
whom  we  intended  to  breakfast.  Presently  three  or  four  men  came  gallop^ 
ing  along  the  beach,  one  of  whom,  a  burly  Hawaiian,  a  silver  shield  on  whose 
jacket  announced  him  a  local  officer  of  police,  reported  that  he  was  at  our  serv 
ice  with  as  many  horses  as  we  needed. 

It  is  one  of  the  embarrassing  incidents  of  travel  on  these  Islands  that  there 
are  no  hotels  or  inns  outside  of  Honolulu  and  Ililo.  Whether  he  will  or  no 
'the  traveler  must  accept  the  hospitality  of  the  residents,  and  this  is  so  general 
and  so  boundless  that  it  would  impose  a  burdensome  obligation,  were  it  not 
offered  in  such  a  kindly  and  graceful  way  as  to  beguile  you  into  the  belief  that 
you  are  conferring  as  well  as  receiving  a  favor.  Nor  is  the  foreigner  alone 


KAUAI,  WITH  A  GLANCE  AT  CATTLE  AND  SHEEP.         67 

generous ;  for  the  native  too,  if  you  come  with  a  letter  from  his  friend  at  a  dis 
tance,  places  himself  and  all  he  has  at  your  service.  When  we  had  reached 
our  friend's  house,  I  asked  my  conductor,  the  policeman,  what  I  should  pay 
him  for  the  use  of  three  horses  and  his  own  services.  Pie  replied  that  he  was 
but  too  happy  to  have  been  of  use  to  me,  as  I  was  the  friend  of  his  friend.  I 
managed  to  force  upon  him  a  proper  reward  for  his  attention,  but  I  am  per 
suaded  that  he  would  have  been  content  without. 

Kauai  is  probably  the  oldest  of  the  Hawaiian  group ;  according  to  the  geolo 
gists  it  was  the  first  thrown  up ;  the  bottom  of  the  ocean  began  to  crack,  up 
there  to  the  north-west,  and  the  rent  extended  gradually  in  the  south-easterly 
direction  necessary  to  produce  the  other  islands.  It  wrould  seem  that  Kauai 
must  be  a  good  deal  older  than  Hawaii ;  for,  whereas  the  latter  is  covered  with 
undecayed  lava  and  has  two  active  volcanoes,  the  former  has  a  rich  and  deep 
covering  of  soil,  and,  except  in  a  few  places,  there  are  no  very  plain  or  conspicu 
ous  cones  or  craters.  Of  course  the  whole  island  bears  the  clearest  traces  of 
its  volcanic  origin ;  and  near  Koloa  there  are  three  small  craters  in  a  very  good 
state  of  preservation. 

Having  thus  more  soil  than  the  other  islands,  Kauai  has  also  more  grass ; 
being  older,  not  only  are  its  valleys  somewhat  richer,  but  its  mountains  are  also 
more  picturesque  than  those  of  Maui  and  Hawaii,  as  also  they  are  much  lower. 
The  roads  are  excellent  for  horsemen,  and  for  the  most  part  practicable  for  car 
riages,  of  which,  however,  there  are  none  to  be  hired. 

The  best  way  to  see  the  island  is  to  land,  as  we  did,  at  Waimea;  ride  to  a 
singular  spot  called  the  "  barking  sands  " — a  huge  sand-hill,  sliding  down  which 
you  hear  a  dull  rumble  like  distant  thunder,  probably  the  result  of  electricity. 
On  the  way  you  meet  with  a  mirage,  remarkable  for  this  that  it  is  a  constant 
phenomenon — that  is  to  say,  it  is  to  be  seen  daily  at  certain  hours,  and  is  the 
apparition  of  a  great  lake,  having  sometimes  high  waves  which  seem  to  sub 
merge  the  cattle  which  stand  about,  apparently,  in  the  water. 

From  the  sands  you  return  to  Waimea,  and  can  ride  thence  next  day  to 
Koloa  in  the  forenoon,  and  to  Na-Wiliwili  in  the  afternoon.  The  following 
day's  ride  will  bring  you  to  Hanalei,  a  highly  picturesque  valley  which  lies  on 
the  rainy  side  of  the  island,  Waimea  being  on  the  dry  side.  At  Hanalei  you 
should  take  the  steamer  and  sail  in  her  around  the  Palis  of  Kauai,  a  stretch  of 
precipitous  cliff  twTenty-five  miles  long,  the  whole  of  which  is  inaccessible  from 
the  sea,  except  by  the  native  people  in  canoes ;  and  many  parts  of  which  are 
very  lovely  and  grand.  Thus  voyaging,  you  will  circumnavigate  the  island, 
returning  to  Na-Wiliwili,  and  thence  in  a  night  to  Honolulu. 

It  is  easy  and  pleasant  to  see  Kauai,  taking  a  store  of  provisions  with  you  and 
lodging  in  native  houses.  But  if  you  have  made  some  acquaintances  in  Hono 
lulu  you  will  be  provided  with  letters  of  introduction  to  some  of  the  hospitable 
foreign  families  on  this  island;  and  thus  the  pleasure  of  your  visit  will  be 


68       NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

greatly  increased.  I  do  not,  I  trust,  violate  the  laws  of  hospitality  if  I  say 
something  here  of  one  of  these  families — the  owners  of  the  little  island  of  Nii- 
hau,  who  have  also  a  charming  residence  in  the  mountains  of  Kauai.  They  came 
to  Honolulu  ten  or  twelve  years  ago  from  New  Zealand  in  a  ship  of  their  own, 
containing  not  only  their  household  goods,  but  also  some  valuable  sheep.  Thus 
fitted  out  they  were  sailing  over  the  world,  looking  for  such  a  little  empire  to 


WAIALtJA   FALLS,   ISLAND   OF   KAUAI. 


own  as  they  found  in  Xiihau ;  and  here  they  settled,  selling  their  ship ;  and 
here  they  remain,  prospering,  and  living  a  quiet,  peaceful,  Arcadian  life,  with 
cattle  and  sheep  on  many  hills,  and  with  a  pleasant,  hospitable  house,  where 
children  and  grandchildren  are  clustered  together,  and  where  the  stranger  re 
ceives  the  heartiest  of  welcomes.  It  was  a  curious  adventure  to  undertake, 
this  sailing  over  the  great  Pacific  to  seek  out  a  proper  home;  and  I  did  not 


KAUAI,  WITH  A  GLANCE  AT  CATTLE  AND  SHEEP.          69 

tire  of  listening  to  the  account  of  their  voyage  and  their  settlement  in  this  new 
and  out-of-the-way  land,  from  the  cheery  and  delightful  grandmother  of  the 
family,  a  Scotch  lady,  full  of  the  sturdy  character  of  her  country  people,  and 
altogether  one  of  the  pleasantest  acquaintances  I  made  on  the  Islands. 

Kauai  has  many  German  residents,  mostly,  like  these  Scotch  people  I  have 
spoken  of,  persons  of  education  and  culture,  who  have  brought  their  libraries 
with  them,  and  on  whose  tables  and  shelves  you  may  see  the  best  of  the  recent 
literature,  as  well  as  the  best  of  the  old.  A  New  Yorker  who  imagines,  cock 
ney-like,  that  civilization  does  not  reach  beyond  the  sound  of  Trinity  chimes 
is  startled  out  of  this  foolish  fancy  when  he  finds  among  the  planters  and 
missionaries  here,  as  in  other  parts  of  these  Islands,  men  and  women  of  genu 
ine  culture  maintaining  all  the  essential  forms  as  well  as  the  realities  of  civili 
zation  ;  yet  living  so  free  and  untrammeled  a  life  that  he  who  comes  from  the 
high-pressure  social  atmosphere  of  New  York  can  not  help  but  envy  these  hap 
py  mortals,  who  seem  to  have  the  good  without  the  worry  of  civilization,  and 
who  have  caught  the  secret  of  how  to  live  simply  and  yet  gently. 

Kauai  has  four  or  five  sugar-plantations,  some  of  which  are  now  successful, 
though  they  were  not  always  so.  Success  has  been  attained  by  a  resolute  ex 
penditure  of  money  in  irrigation  ditches,  which  have  made  the  land  yield  con 
stant  and  remunerative  crops.  But  I  could  see  here,  as  elsewhere,  that  close 
and  careful  management — the  eye  of  the  master  and  the  hand  of  the  master — 
insured  the  success. 

But  a  large  part  of  the  island  is  given  up  to  cattle.  In  the  mountains  they 
have  gone  wild,  and  parties  are  made  to  hunt  and  shoot  these.  But  on  the 
plains,  of  course,  they  are  owned  and  herded.  The  raising  of  cattle  is  an  im 
portant  and  considerable  business  on  all  the  Islands ;  and  at  present,  I  believe, 
the  cattle  owners  are  making  a  good  deal  of  money.  In  1871,  19,384  hides 
were  exported,  as  well  as  185,240  pounds  of  tallow,  58,900  goat  skins,  and 
4*71,706  pounds  of  wool. 

The  market  for  beef  is  limited,  and  the  stockman  Boils  down  his  beeves. 
In  many  cases  the  best  machinery  is  used  for  this  purpose ;  the  boiling  is  done 
in  closed  vessels,  and  the  business  is  carried  on  with  precision.  It  seemed  to 
me,  who  remembered  the  high  price  of  beef  in  our  Eastern  States,  like  a  sad 
waste  to  see  a  hundred  head  of  fat  steers  driven  into  a  corral,  and  one  after 
the  other  knocked  on  the  head,  slaughtered,  skinned,  cut  up,  and  put  into  the 
boilers  to  be  turned  into  tallow.  But  it  is  the  only  use  to  make  of  the  beasts. 
The  refuse,  however,  is  here  always  wasted,  which  appeared  to  me  unnecessary, 
for  it  might  well  be  applied  to  the  enrichment  of  the  pastures. 

On  many  of  the  ranchos  you  see  open  try  pots  used ;  it  is  a  more  wasteful 
process,  I  imagine,  but  it  is  simpler  and  requires  a  smaller  expenditure  of  capi 
tal  for  machinery.  The  cattle  are  managed  here,  as  in  California,  on  horseback 
and  with  the  help  of  the  lasso;  and  he  who  on  our  Pacific  coast  is  called  a 


70       NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

« 
vaquero,  or  cow-herd,  is  here  known  as  a  "  Spaniol."     Such  a  native  man  is 

pointed  out  to  you  as  an  excellent  Spaniol.  This  comes  from  the  fact  that  in 
the  early  days  of  cattle-raising  here  the  natives  knew  nothing  of  their  manage 
ment,  and  Spaniards  had  to  be  imported  from  California  to  teach  them  the  busi 
ness.  The  native  people  now  make  excellent  vaqueros ;  they  are  daring  horse 
men,  and  as  they  work  cheaply  and  are  easily  fed  and  lodged,  the  management 
of  cattle  costs  less  here,  I  imagine,  than  even  in  California.  But  it  is  necessary 
to  take  care  that  the  pastures  shall  not  be  overstocked;  and  the  vast  number 
of  horses  kept  by  the  natives  is  on  all  the  Islands  a  serious  injury  to  the  pas 
turage  of  both  sheep  and  cattle. 

The  Hawaiian,  who  seventy-five  years  ago  did  not  know  that  there  existed 
such  a  creature  as  a  horse,  and  even  fifty  years  ago  beheld  it  as  a  rarity,  now 
can  not  live  without  this  beast.  There  are  probably  more  horses  than  people 
on  the  Islands ;  and  the  native  family  is  poor,  indeed,  which  has  not  two  or  three 
hardy,  rough,  grass-fed  ponies,  easy  to  ride,  sometimes  tricky  but  more  often 
quite  trustworthy,  and  capable  of  living  where  a  European  donkey  would  die 
in  disgust.  At  a  horse  auction  you  see  a  singular  collection  of  good  and  bad 
horses;  and  it  is  one  of  the  jokes  of  the  Islands  to  go  to  a  horse  auction  and 
buy  a  horse  for  a  quarter  of  a  dollar.  The  Government  has  vainly  tried  to  put 
a  check  to  the  reckless  increase  of  horseflesh  by  laying  a  tax  on  these  animals, 
and  by  impounding  them  if  the  tax  is  not  paid.  I  was  told  of  a  planter  who 
bought  on  one  occasion  fifty  horses  out  of  a  pound,  at  twenty-five  cents  a  head, 
and  had  them  all  shot  and  put  into  a  manure  pile.  But  if  the  horse  is  worth 
his  tax  it  is  pretty  certain  to  be  paid ;  and  it  is  not  easy  to  keep  them  off  the 
pastures. 

Cattle  ranches  usually  extend  over  from  fifteen  to  thirty  thousand  acres  of 
land ;  though  many  are  smaller,  and  some,  on  Hawaii,  larger.  The  grass  is  of 
different  varieties,  but  the  most  useful,  as  well  as  now  the  most  abundant,  is  the 
manienie,  of  which  I  have  before  made  mention.  Horses  and  sheep,  as  well  as 
cattle,  become  very  fond  of  this  grass,  and  eat  it  down  very  close.  The  hand 
ling  of  the  cattle  is  intrusted  to  native  people,  who  live  on  the  rancho  or  estate ; 
and  the  planter  or  stock  farmer  has  an  advantage,  in  these  Islands,  in  finding 
a  laboring  population  living  within  the  bounds  of  his  own  place.  The  large 
estates  were  formerly  the  property  of  the  chiefs.  They  are  the  old  "lands." 
But  when  the  kuliana  law  was  made,  the  common  people  were  allowed  to  take 
out  for  themselves  such  small  holdings  as  they  held  in  actual  cultivation.  These 
kulianas  they  still  hold ;  and  thus  it  often  happens  that  within  the  bounds  of 
a  large  estate  fifty  or  sixty  families  will  live  on  their  little  freeholds;  and  these 
form  a  natural  and  cheap  laboring  force  for  the  plantation  or  rancho. 

On  the  Island  of  Niihati,  I  was  told,  there  are  still  about  three  hundred  na 
tive  people.  The  sheep  are  allowed  to  run  at  large  on  the  island,  there  being 
no  wild  animals  to  disturb  them;  at  lambing  and  shearing  times  the  proprie- 


KAUAI,  WITH  A  GLANCE  AT  CATTLE  AND  SHEEP. 


71 


tors  hire  their  native  tenants  to  do  the  necessary  work;  arid  these  people  at 
other  times  fish,  raise  water-melons  and  other  fruits,  and  make  mats  which  are 
famous  for  their  fine  texture  and  softness,  and  sell  at  handsome  prices  even  in 
Honolulu. 

Where,  as  is  the  case  almost  universally,  the  relations  between  the  stockman 
and  the  native  people  are 
kindly,  there  is  a  reciproc 
ity  of  good  offices,  and  a 
ready  service  from  the  peo 
ple,  in  return  for  manage 
ment  and  protection  by  the 
great  proprietor,  which  is 
mutually  agreeable,  and 
in  which  the  proprietor 
stands  in  some  such  rela 
tion  to  the  people  as  the 
chief  in  old  times,  though 
of  course  with  not  a  tithe 
of  the  power  the  ancient 
rulers  had. 

At  Kauai  you  will  also 
see  rice  growing.  This  is 
one  of  the  products  which 
is  rapidly  increasing  in 
the  Islands.  Of  rice  and 
paddy,  or  unhulled  rice, 
the  exports  were  in  1871, 
417,011  pounds  of  the  first, 
and  86 7,45 2  of  the  last.  In 
1872  there  were  exported 
455,121  pounds  of  rice  and 
894,382  pounds  of  paddy. 


f 


IMPLEMENTS. 


The  taro  patches  make 
excellent  rice  fields;  and 
it  is  an  industry  in  which 
the  Chinese,  who  under 
stand  it,  invest  their  sav 
ings.  They  employ  native 
labor ;  and  it  is  not  uncom 
mon  to  find  that  a  few  Chinese  have  hired  all  the  taro  patches  in  a  valley  from 
their  native  owners,  and  then  employ  these  natives  to  work  for  them ;  an  ar 
rangement  which  is  mutually  beneficial,  and  agreeable  besides  to  the  Hawaiian, 


a,  Calabash  for  poi.—b,  Calabash  for  fish.— c,  Water  bottle.— d  d,  Poi 
mallets.—?,  Poi  trough.—/,  Native  bracelet.— #,  Fiddle.— h,  Flute.— 
i  i,  Drums. 


72       NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

who  has  not  much  of  what  we  call  "  enterprise,"  and  does  not  care  to  ac 
cumulate  money.  The  windward  side  of  the  Islands  of  Oahu  and  Kauai 
produces  a  great  deal  of  rice,  and  this  is  one  of  the  products  which  promises 
to  increase  largely.  The  rice  is  said  to  be  of  excellent  quality. 

Kauai  contained  once  the  most  important  coffee-plantations;  and  the  large 
sugar-plantation  of  Princeville  at  Hanalei  was  originally  planted  in  coffee. 
But  this  tree  or  shrub  is  so  subject  to  the  attacks  of  a  leaf-blight  that  the  cul 
ture  has  decreased.  Yet  coffee  grows  wild  in  many  of  the  valleys  and  hills, 
and  here  and  there  you  find  a  small  plantation  of  a  few  hundred  trees  which 
does  well.  The  coffee  shrub  thrives  best  in  these  Islands  among  the  lava  rock, 
where  there  seems  scarcely  any  soil;  and  it  must  be  sheltered  from  winds  and 
also  from  the  sun.  I  have  seen  some  young  plantations  placed  in  the  midst  of 
forests  where  the  trees  gave  a  somewhat  dense  shade,  and  these  seemed  to 
grow  well. 


THE  HAWAIIAN  AT  HOME :   MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS. 


GKASS  HOUSE. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  HAWAIIAN  AT  HOME :  MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS. 

AS  we  rode  one  day  near  the  sea-shore  I  heard  voices  among  the  rocks,  and 
sending  the  guide  ahead  with  the  horses,  I  walked  over  to  the  shore  with 
the  lady  and  children  who  were  my  companions.  There  we  saw  a  sight  char 
acteristic  of  these  islands.  Three  women  decently  clothed  in  a  garment  which 
covered  them  from  head  to  foot,  and  a  man  with  only  a  breech-clout  on,  were 
dashing  into  the  surf,  picking  up  sea-moss,  and  a  little  univalve  shell,  a  limpet, 
which  they  flung  into  small  baskets  which  hung  from  their  shoulders.  They 
were,  in  fact,  getting  their  suppers,  and  they  were  quite  as  much  surprised  at 
our  appearance  as  we  at  theirs.  They  came  out  politely,  and  showed  the  chil 
dren  what  was  in  their  baskets ;  the  man,  understanding  that  our  horses  had 
gone  ahead,  kindly  volunteered  to  pilot  us  over  the  rocks  to  a  village  near  by. 
I  do  not  imagine  that  he  was  embarrassed  at  his  lack  of  clothing,  and  after  the 
first  shock  of  surprise  I  am  quite  sure  we  were  more  inclined  to  admire  his 
straight  muscular  figure  and  his  shining  dark  skin  than  to  complain  of  his 
nakedness.  Presently,  however,  he  slipped  away  into  the  bush,  and  re-ap 
peared  in  a  hat,  and  a  shirt  which  was  so  short  that  even  my  little  girl  burst 
into  laughter  at  this  ridiculous  and  futile  effort  toward  decency ;  and  thus  ar 
rayed,  and  with  the  kindly  and  gracious  smile  which  illuminates  a  Hawaiian's 


74       NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

face  when  he  puts  himself  to  some  trouble  on  your  account,  this  funny  guide 
led  us  to  our  horses. 

In  the  evening  I  related  this  incident  to  our  host,  an  old  resident,  and  said, 
"  I  suppose  this  man  could  read  ?"  "  Read  ! "  he  replied ;  "  he  can  read  and 
write  as  well  as  you.  I  know  him  very  well ;  he  is  a  prosperous  man,  and  is 
to  be  the  next  justice  of  the  peace  in  that  district.  He  doubtless  went  home 
and  spent  the  remainder  of  the  afternoon  in  reading  his  newspaper." 

Native  life  in  the  Islands  is  full  of  such  contrasts,  and  I  found,  on  examining 
the  labor  contracts  on  several  sugar-plantations,  that  almost  without  exception 
the  working  people  signed  their  own  names. 

According  to  a  census  taken  in  December,  1872,  the  Hawaiian  Islands  con 
tained  56,897  souls,  of  whom  51,531  were  natives  and  half-castes,  and  5366 
were  foreigners.  In  six  years  the  native  population  had  decreased  7234,  and 
the  foreigners  had  increased  1172.  Since  1866,  therefore,  the  Islands  have  lost 
6062  souls. 

Of  the  foreigners  the  Chinese  are  the  most  numerous,  outnumbering  all  the 
other  foreign  nationalities  together  except  the  Americans.  Chinese  have  been 
brought  over  here  as  coolie  laborers  on  the  plantations.  They  readily  inter 
marry  with  the  native  women,  and  these  unions  are  usually  fruitful  of  healthy 
and  bright  children.  It  is  said  that  the  Chinese  insist  upon  taking  better  care 
of  their  children  than  the  native  women,  uninstructed,  usually  give  them,  and 
that  therefore  the  Chinese  half-caste  families  are  more  thrifty  than  those  of  the 
pure  blood  Hawaiiaus.  Moreover,  the  Chinaman  takes  care  of  his  wife.  He 
endeavors  to  form  her  habits  upon  the  pattern  of  his  own ;  and  requires  of  her 
the  performance  of  fixed  duties,  which  add  to  her  happiness  and  health.  In 
fact,  the  number  of  half-castes  of  all  races  has  increased  thirty  per  cent,  in  the 
last  six  years. 

The  native  population  is  admirably  cared  for  by  the  authorities.  The  Islands 
are  divided  for  various  governmental  purposes  into  districts ;  and  in  every  dis 
trict  where  the  people  are  much  scattered  the  government  places  a  physician — 
a  man  of  skill  and  character — to  whom  it  gives  a  small  salary  for  attending 
upon  the  common  people,  and  he  is,  I  believe,  expected  to  make  a  tour  of  his 
district  at  stated  intervals.  Of  course  he  is  allowed  to  practice  besides  for 
pay.  The  sugar  planters  also  usually  provide  medical  attendance  for  their 
laborers. 

The  Government  maintains  a  careful  guard  over  the  schools.  A  compul 
sory  education  law  obliges  parents,  under  fixed  penalties,  to  send  their  chil 
dren  to  school ;  and  besides  the  common  or  primary  schools,  there  are  a  num 
ber  of  academies,  most  of  which  receive  some  help  from  the  Government,  while 
all  are  under  Government  supervision.  The  census  gives  the  number  of  chil 
dren  between  six  and  fifteen  years  of  age  at  8931 ;  and  there  are  324  teachers, 
or  one  teacher  for  every  twenty-seven  children  in  the  whole  group.  Attend- 


THE  HAWAIIAN  AT  HOME :  MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS.  75 

ance  at  school  is,  I  suspect,  more  general  here  than  in  any  other  country  in  the 
world.  The  last  report  of  W.  P.  Kamakau,  the  President  of  the  Board  of 
Education,  made  in  March,  1872,  returns  8287  children  actually  attending  upon 
245  schools  of  various  grades,  202  being  common  schools.  Under  this  system 
there  is  scarcely  a  Hawaiian  of  proper  age  who  can  not  both  read  and  write. 

Churches  they  maintain  by  voluntary  effort,  and  their  contributions  are  very 
liberal.  They  take  a  pride  in  such  organizations.  Dr.  Coan's  native  church  at 
Hilo  contributes  $1200  per  year  to  foreign  missions. 

There  are  no  beggars,  and  no  public  paupers  except  the  insane,  who  are  cared 
for  in  an  asylum  near  Honolulu,  and  the  lepers,  who  are  confined  upon  a  part 
of  Molokai.  The  convicts  and  the  boys  in  the  reform  school  contribute  to 
their  own  support  by  their  labor.  The  Queen's  Hospital  is  only  for  curable 
cases,  and  the  people  take  care  of  their  own  infirm,  aged  and  otherwise  incapa 
ble  dependents. 

It  seems  to  me  that  very  unusual  judgment  has  been  shown  in  the  manner 
in  which  benevolent  and  penal  institutions  have  been  created  and  managed 
among  these  people ;  for  the  tendency  almost  everywhere  in  countries  which 
call  themselves  more  highly  civilized  is  to  make  the  poor  dependent  upon  char 
ity,  and  thus  a  fatal  blow  is  struck  at  their  character  and  respectability.  Here, 
partly  of  course  because  the  means  of  living  are  very  abundant  and  easily  got, 
but  also,  I  think,  because  the  government  has  been  wisely  managed,  the  people 
have  not  been  taught  to  look  toward  public  charity  for  relief ;  and  though  we 
Americans,  who  live  in  a  big  country,  are  apt  to  think  slightingly  of  what  some 
one  called  a  toy  kingdom,  any  one  who  has  undertaken  to  manage  or  organize 
even  a  small  community  at  home  will  recognize  the  fact  that  it  is  a  task  beset 
by  difficulties. 

But  in  these  Islands  a  state,  a  society,  has  been,  created  within  a  quarter  of 
a  century,  and  it  has  been  very  ably  done.  I  am  glad  that  it  has  been  done 
mainly  by  Americans.  Chief-justice  Lee,  now  dead,  but  whose  memory  is  de 
servedly  cherished  here ;  Dr.  Judd,  who  died  in  August,  1873;  Mr.  C.  C.  Harris, 
lately  Minister  of  Foreign  Relations,  and  for  many  years  occupying  different 
prominent  positions  in  the  Government ;  Dr.  J.  Mott  Smith,  lately  the  Minister 
of  Finance;  Chief -justice  Allen,  and  Mr.  Armstrong,  long  at  the  head  of  the 
Educational  Department,  the  father  of  General  Armstrong,  President  of  the 
Hampton  University  in  Virginia,  deserve,  perhaps,  the  chief  credit  for  this 
work.  They  were  the  organizers  who  supplemented  the  labors  of  the  mission 
aries  ;  and,  fortunately  for  the  native  people,  they  were  all  men  of  honor,  of 
self-restraint,  of  goodness  of  heart,  who  knew  how  to  rule  wisely  and  not  too 
much,  and  who  protected  the  people  without  destroying  their  independence. 
What  they  have  done  would  have  given  them  fame  had  it  not  been  done  two 
thousand  miles  from  the  nearest  continent,  and  at  least  five  thousand  from  any 
place  where  reputations  are  made. 


76       NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

Of  a  total  native  population  of  51,531,  6580  are  returned  by  the  census  as  free 
holders — more  than  one  in  every  eight.  Only  4772  are  returned  as  plantation 
laborers,  and  of  these  probably  a  third  are  Chinese;  2115  returned  themselves 
as  mechanics,  which  is  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  total  able-bodied  popula 
tion.  I  believe  that  both  freeholders  and  mechanics  find  employment  on  the 
plantations  as  occasional  laborers. 

A  people  so  circumstanced,  well  taught  in  schools,  freeholders  to  a  large  ex 
tent,  living  in  a  mild  and  salubrious  climate,  and  with  cheap  and  proper  food, 
ought  not,  one  would  say,  to  decrease.  There  are,  of  course,  several  reasons 
for  their  very  rapid  decrease,  and  all  of  them  come  from  contact  with  the 
whites.  These  brought  among  them  diseases  which  have  corrupted  their 
blood,  and  made  them  infertile  and  of  poor  stamina.  But  to  this,  which  is  the 
chief  cause,  must  be  added,  I  suspect,  another  less  generally  acknowledged. 

The  deleterious  habit  of  wearing  clothes  has,  I  do  not  doubt,  done  much  to 
kill  off  the  Hawaiian  people.  If  you  think  for  a  moment,  you  will  see  that  to 
adopt  civilized  habits  was  for  them  to  make  a  prodigious  change  in  their  ways 
of  life.  Formerly  the  maro  and  the  slight  covering  of  the  tapa  alone  shielded 
them  from  the  sun  and  rain.  Their  bodies  became  hardy  by  exposure.  Their 
employments — fishing,  taro-planting,  tapa-makiug,  bird-catching,  canoe-making 
— were  all  laborious,  and  pursued  out-of-doors.  Their  grass  houses,  with  open 
ings  for  doors  and  windows,  were,  at  any  rate,  tolerably  well  ventilated.  Take 
the  man  accustomed  thus  to  live,  and  put  shoes  on  his  feet,  a  hat  on  his  head, 
a  shirt  on  his  back,  and  trowsers  about  his  legs,  and  lodge  him  in  a  house  with 
close-shutting  doors  and  windows,  and  you  expose  his  constitution  to  a  very  se 
rious  strain,  especially  in  a  country  where  there  is  a  good  deal  of  rain.  Being, 
after  all,  but  half  civilized,  he  will  probably  sleep  in  a  wet  shirt,  or  cumber  his 
feet  with  wet  shoes ;  he  will  most  likely  neglect  to  open  his  windows  at  night, 
and  poison  himself  and  his  family  with  bad  air,  to  the  influence  of  which,  be 
sides,  his  unaccustomed  lungs  will  be  peculiarly  liable ;  he  will  live  a  less  active 
life  under  his  changed  conditions;  and  altogether  the  poor  fellow  must  have  an 
uncommonly  fine  constitution  to  resist  it  all  and  escape  with  his  life.  At  the 
best,  his  system  will  be  relaxed,  his  power  of  resistance  will  be  lessened,  his 
chances  of  recovery  will  be  diminished  in  the  same  degree  as  his  chances  of 
falling  ill  are  increased.  If  now  you  throw  in  some  special  disease,  corrupting 
the  blood,  and  transmitted  with  fatal  certainty  to  the  progeny,  the  wonder  is 
that  a  people  so  situated  have  not  died  out  in  a  single  generation. 

In  fact  they  have  died  out  pretty  fast,  though  there  is  reason  to  believe  that 
the  mortality  rate  has  largely  decreased  in  the  last  three  years;  and  careful 
observers  believe  even  that  in  the  last  year  there  has  been  an  actual  increase, 
rather  than  a  decrease  in  the  native  and  half-caste  population.  In  1832  the 
Islands  had  a  population  of  130,315  souls;  in  183G  there  were  but  108,579;  in 
1840,  only  84,165,  of  whom  1962  were  foreigners;  in  1850,  69,800,  of  whom 


THE  HAWAIIAN  AT  HOME :   MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS.  77 

3216  were  foreigners;  and  in  1860,  62,959,  of  whom  4194  were  foreigners. 
The  native  population  has  decreased  over  sixty  per  cent,  in  forty  years. 

In  the  same  period  the  foreigners  have  increased  very  slowly,  until  there  are 
now  in  all  5366  foreigners  and  persons  born  here,  but  of  foreign  parentage,  on 
the  Islands.  You  will  see  that  while  the  Hawaiians  have  so  rapidly  decreased 
that  all  over  the  Islands  you  notice,  in  waste  fields  and  desolate  house  places, 
the  marks  of  this  loss,  foreigners  have  not  been  attracted  to  fill  up  their  places. 
And  this  in  spite  of  the  facts  that  the  climate  is  mild  and  healthful,  the  price 
of  living  cheap,  the  Government  liberal,  the  taxes  low,  and  life  and  property  as 
secure  as  in  any  part  of  the  world.  One  would  think  that  a  country  which 
offers  all  these  advantages  must  be  a  paradise  for  poor  men ;  and  I  do  not 
wonder  that  in  the  United  States  there  is  frequent  talk  of  "  annexing  the  Isl 
ands."  But,  in  fact,  they  offer  no  advantages,  aside  from  those  I  have  named, 
to  white  settlers,  and  they  have  such  serious  natural  disabilities  as  will  always 
— or,  at  least,  for  the  next  two  or  three  millions  of  years — repel  our  American 
people,  and  all  other  white  settlers. 

In  the  first  place,  there  is  very  little  of  what  we  call  agricultural  land  on  the 
Islands.  They  are  only  mountains  rising  from  the  sea,  with  extremely  little 
alluvial  bottom,  and  that  usually  cut  up  by  torrents,  and  water-washed  into 
gulches,  until  it  is  difficult  in  many  parts  to  find  a  fair  field  of  even  fifty  acres. 
From  these  narrow  bottoms,  where  they  exist,  you  look  into  deep  gorges  or 
valleys,  out  of  which  issue  the  streams  which  force  their  way  through  the 
lower  fields  into  the  sea.  These  valleys  are  never  extensive,  and  are  always 
very  much  broken  and  contracted.  They  are  useless  for  common  agricultural 
purposes.  In  several  tne  culture  of  coffee  has  been  begun;  but  they  are  so 
inaccessible,  the  roads  into  them  are  so  difficult,  and  the  area  of  arable  soil  they 
contain  is,  after  all,  so  insignificant,  that,  even  for  so  valuable  a  product  as 
coffee,  transportation  is  found  to  be  costly. 

But  it  is  along  and  in  the  streams  which  rush  through  the  bottoms  of  these 
narrow  gorges  that  the  Hawaiian  is  most  at  home.  Go  into  any  of  these  val 
leys,  and  you  will  see  a  surprising  sight :  along  the  whole  narrow  bottom,  and 
climbing  often  in  terraces  the  steep  hill-sides,  you  will  see  the  little  taro  patches, 
skillfully  laid  so  as  to  catch  the  water,  either  directly  from  the  main  stream,  or 
from  canals  taking  water  out  above. 

Such  a  taro  patch  oftenest  contains  a  sixteenth,  less  frequently  an  eighth  of 
an  acre.  It  consists  of  soil  painfully  brought  down  from  above,  and  secured 
by  means  of  substantial  stone  walls,  plastered  with  mud  and  covered  with 
grass,  strong  enough  to  resist  the  force  of  the  torrent.  Each  little  patch  or 
flat  is  so  laid  that  a  part  of  the  stream  shall  flow  over  it  without  carrying  away 
the  soil;  indeed,  it  is  expected  to  leave  some  sediment.  And  as  you  look  up 
such  a  valley  you  see  terrace  after  terrace  of  taro  rising  before  you,  the  patches 
often  fifty  or  sixty  feet  above  the  brawling  stream,  but  each  receiving  its  prop 
er  proportion  of  water. 


78       NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

Near  by  or  among  these  small  holdings  stand  the  grass  houses  of  the  pro 
prietors,  and  you  may  see  them  and  their  wives,  their  clothing  tucked  up,  stand 
ing  over  their  knees  in  water,  planting  or  cultivating  the  crop.  Here  the  Ha 
waiian  is  at  home.  His  horse  finds  its  scanty  living  on  the  grass  which  fringes 
the  taro  patches ;  indeed,  you  may  see  horses  here  standing  belly  deep  in  fresh 
water,  and  feeding  on  the  grasses  which  grow  on  the  bottom ;  and  again  you 
find  horses  raised  in  the  drier  parts  of  the  islands  that  do  not  know  what  water 
is,  never  having  drunk  any  thing  wetter  than  the  dew  on  the  grass.  Among 
the  taro  patches  the  house  place  is  as  narrow  as  a  fishing  schooner's  deck — 
"  two  steps  and  overboard."  If  you  want  to  walk,  it  must  be  on  the  dikes 
within  which  the  taro  land  is  confined ;  and  if  you  ride,  it  must  be  in  the  mid 
dle  of  the  rapid  mountain  torrent,  or  along  a  narrow  bridle-path  high  up  on 
the  precipitous  side  of  the  mountain. 

Down  near  the  shore  are  fish  ponds,  with  wicker  gates  which  admit  the  small 
fry  from  the  sea,  but  keep  in  the  large  fish.  Many  of  these  ponds  are  hundreds 
of  acres  in  area,  and  from  them  the  Hawaiian  draws  one  of  his  favorite  dishes. 
Then  there  may  be  cocoa-nuts ;  there  are  sure  to  be  bananas  and  guavas.  Beef 
costs  but  a  trifle,  and  hogs  fatten  on  taro.  The  pandanus  furnishes  him  mate 
rial  for  his  mats,  and  of  mats  he  makes  his  bed,  as  well  as  the  floor  of  his  house. 

In  short,  such  a  gorge  or  valley  as  I  have  tried  to  describe  to  you  furnishes 
in  its  various  parts,  including  the  sea-shore,  all  that  is  needed  to  make  the  Ha 
waiian  prosperous;  and  I  have  not  seen  one  which  had  not  its  neatly  kept 
school-house  and  church,  and  half  a  dozen  framed  houses  scattered  among  the 
humbler  grass  huts,  to  mark  the  greater  wealth  of  some — for  the  Hawaiian 
holds  that  the  wooden  house  is  a  mark  of  thrift  and  respectability. 

But  the  same  valley  which  now  supports  twenty  or  thirty  native  families  in 
comfort  and  happiness,  and  which,  no  doubt,  once  yielded  food  and  all  the  ap 
pliances  of  life  in  abundance  to  one  or  two  hundred,  would  not  tempt  any  white 
man  of  any  nation  in  the  world  to  live  in  it,  and  a  thousand  such  gorges  would 
not  add  materially  to  the  prosperity  of  any  white  nation.  That  is  to  say,  the 
country  is  admirably  adapted  to  its  native  people.  It  favors,  as  it  doubtless 
compelled  and  formed,  all  their  habits  and  customs.  But  it  would  repel  any 
one  else,  and  an  American  farmer  would  not  give  a  hundred  dollars  for  the 
whole  Wailuku  Valley — if  he  had  to  live  in  it  and  work  it — though  it  would  be 
worth  many  thousands  to  the  natives  if  it  were  once  more  populous  as  of  old. 

As  you  examine  the  works  of  the  old  Hawaiians,  their  fish  ponds,  their  irri 
gation  canals,  their  long  miles  of  walls  inclosing  ponds  and  taro  fields,  you  will 
not  only  see  the  proofs  that  the  Islands  were  formerly  far  more  populous  than 
now,  but  you  will  get  a  respect  for  the  feudal  system  of  which  these  works  are 
the  remains. 

The  Hawaiian  people,  when  they  first  became  known  to  the  world,  were  sev 
eral  stages  removed  from  mere  savagery.  They  had  elaborated  a  tolerably 


THE  HAWAIIAN  AT  HOME:  MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS. 


79 


perfect  system  of  government  and  of  land  tenure,  which  has  since  been  swept 
away,  as  was  inevitable,  but  which  served  its  day  very  well  indeed.  Under  this 
system  the  chiefs  owned  every  thing.  The  common  people  were  their  retainers 
—followers  in  war  and  servants  in  peace.  The  chief,  according  to  an  old  Ha 
waiian  proverb,  owned  "  all  the  land,  all  the  sea,  and  all  the  iron  cast  up  by 
the  sea." 


HAWAIIAN    WARRIORS. 


The  land  was  carefully  parceled  out  among  the  chiefs,  upon  the  plan  of  se 
curing  to  each  one  from  his  own  land  all  that  he  and  his  retainers  needed  for 
their  lives.  What  they  chiefly  required  was  taro  ground,  the  sea  for  fish,  the 
mulberry  for  tapa,  and. timber  land  for  canoes;  but  they  required  also  ti  leaves 
in  which  to  wrap  their  parcels,  and  flowers  of  which  to  make  their  lesy  or  flower 
necklaces.  And  I  have  seen  modern  surveys  of  old  "  lands  "  in  which  the  lines 
were  run  very  irregularly,  and  in  some  cases  even  outlying  patches  were  added, 


80       NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

because  a  straight  line  from  mountain  to  sea  was  found  to  exclude  some  one 
product,  even  so  trifling  as  the  yellow  flowers  of  which  les  are  often  made. 

On  such  a  "  land,"  and  from  it,  the  chief  and  his  people  lived.  He  appears  to 
have  been  the  brains  and  they  the  hands  to  work  it.  They  owed  him  two  days' 
labor  in  every  seven,  in  which  they  cultivated  his  taro,  cleaned  his  fish  pond, 
caught  fish  for  him,  opened  paths,  made  or  transported  canoes,  and  did  generally 
what  he  required.  The  remainder  of  the  time  was  their  own,  to  cultivate  such 
patches  of  taro  as  he  allowed  them  to  occupy,  or  to  do  what  they  pleased.  For 
any  important  public  work  he  could  call  out  all  his  people,  and  oblige  them  to 
labor  as  long  as  he  chose,  and  thus  were  built  the  surprisingly  solid  and  extensive 
walls  which  inclose  the  old  fish  ponds,  and  many  irrigating  canals  which  show 
not  only  long  continued  industry,  but  quite  astonishing  skill  for  so  rude  a  people. 

The  chief  was  supreme  ruler  over  his  people ;  they  lived  by  his  tolerance,  for 
they  owned  absolutely  nothing,  neither  land,  nor  house,  nor  food,  nor  wife,  nor 
child.  A  high  chief  was  approached  only  with  abject  gestures,  and  no  one 
dared  resist  his  acts  or  dispute  his  will.  The  sense  of  obedience  must  have 
been  very  strong,  for  it  has  survived  every  change ;  and  only  the  other  day  a 
friend  of  mine  saw  a  Hawaiian  lady,  a  chiefess,  but  the  wife  of  an  American, 
and  herself  tenderly  nurtured  and  a  woman  of  education  and  refinement,  box 
ing  the  ears  of  a  tall  native,  whom  she  had  caught  furiously  abusing  his  wife, 
and  the  man  bore  his  punishment  as  meekly  as  a  child.  "  Why  ?"  "  He  knows 
I  am  his  chief,  and  he  would  not  dare  raise  even  an  angry  look  toward  me ;  he 
would  not  think  of  it,  even,"  was  her  reply,  when  she  was  asked  how  she  had 
courage  to  interfere  in  what  was  a  very  violent  quarrel.  Yet  the  present  law 
recognizes  no  allegiance  due  to  a  chief. 

When  the  young  king  Lunalilo  returned  to  the  palace  after  the  coronation, 
the  pipe-bearer,  an  old  native  retainer,  approached  him  on  his  knees,  and  was 
shocked  at  being  ordered  to  get  up  and  act  like  a  man.  The  older  natives  to 
this  day  approach  a  chief  or -chief  ess  only  with  humble  and  deprecatory  bows; 
and  wherever  a  chief  or  chiefess  travels,  the  native  people  along  the  road  make 
offerings  of  the  fruits  of  the  ground,  and  even  of  articles  of  clothing  and  adorn 
ment.  One  of  the  curious  sights  of  Honolulu  to  us  travelers,  last  spring,  was  to 
see  long  processions  of  native  people,  men,  women,  and  children,  marching  to  the 
palace  to  lay  their  offerings  before  the  king,  who  is  a  high  chief.  Each  brought 
something — a  man  would  wralk  gravely  along  with  a  pig  under  his  arm ;  after 
him  followed  perhaps  a  little  child  with  half  a  dozen  bananas,  a  woman  with  a 
chicken  tied  by  a  string,  a  girl  with  a  handkerchief  full  of  eggs,  a  boy  with  a 
cocoa-nut,  an  old  woman  with  a  calabash  of  poi,  and  so  on.  In  the  palace  yard 
all  this  was  laid  in  a  heap  before  the  young  king,  who  thereupon  said  thank 
you,  and,  with  a  few  kind  words,  dismissed  the  people  to  their  homes. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  power  of  the  old  chiefs,  as  well  as  of  the  density  of 
the  population  in  former  times,  it  is  related  that  when  the  wall  inclosing  a  cer- 


THE  HAWAIIAN  AT  HOME :   MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS. 


81 


tain  fish  pond  on  the  windward  side  of  Oahu  was  to  be  built,  the  chief  then 
ruling  over  that  land  gave  notice  that  on  a  certain  day  every  man,  woman,  and 
child  within  his  domain  must  appear  at  a  designated  point,  bearing  a  stone. 
The  wall,  which  stands  yet,  is  half  a  mile  long,  well  built,  and  probably  six  feet 
high ;  and  it  was  begun  and  completed  in  that  one  day. 

6 


82       NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

I  was  shown,  on  Kauai,  a  young  man  of  insignificant  appearance,  and  of  no 
particular  merit  or  force  of  character.  To  him  an  old  woman  recently  dying 
had  by  a  will,  written  out  for  her  by  a  friend  of  my  own,  left  all  her  property— 
a  taro  patch,  a  house,  and  some  other  land.  My  friend  asked  why.  He  is  my 
chief,  was  the  reply ;  and  sure  enough,  on  inquiry  my  friend  discovered,  what 
he  had  not  before  known,  that  the  man  was  a  descendant  of  one  of  the  chief 
families,  of  whom  this  old  woman  had  in  her  early  days  been  a  subject. 

As  the  chief  was  the  ruler,  the  people  looked  to  him  for  food  in  a  time  of 
scarcity.  He  directed  their  labors;  he  protected  them  against  wrong  from 
others ;  and  as  it  was  his  pride  that  his  retainers  should  be  more  numerous  and 
more  prosperous  than  those  of  the  neighboring  chief,  if  the  head  possessed 
brains,  no  doubt  the  people  were  made  content.  Food  was  abundant ;  com 
merce  was  unknown ;  the  chief  could  not  eat  or  waste  more  than  his  people 
could  easily  produce  for  him ;  and  until  disturbing  causes  came  in  with  Captain 
Cook,  no  doubt  feudalism  wrought  satisfactory  results  here.  One  wonders 
how  it  was  invented  among  such  a  people,  or  who  it  was  that  first  had  genius 
enough  to  insist  on  obedience,  to  make  rules,  to  prescribe  the  tabu,  and,  in 
short,  to  evolve  order  out  of  chaos. 

The  tabu  was  a  most  ingenious  and  useful  device ;  and  when  you  hear  of  the 
uses  to  which  it  was  put,  and  of  its  effectiveness,  you  feel  surprised  that  it  was 
not  found  elsewhere  as  an  appurtenance  of  the  feudal  machinery.  Thus  the 
chief  allowed  his  people  to  fish  in  the  part  of  the  ocean  which  he  owned— 
which  fronted  his  "  land,"  that  is  to  say.  He  tabued  one  or  two  kinds  of  fish, 
however ;  these  they  were  forbidden  to  catch ;  but  as  a  fisherman  can  not,  even 
in  these  islands,  exercise  a  choice  as  to  the  fish  which  shall  enter  his  net  or  bite 
at  his  hook,  it  followed  that  the  tabued  fish  were  caught — but  then  they  were 
at  once  rendered  up  to  the  chief.  One  variety  of  taro,  which  makes  poi  of  a 
pink  color,  was  tabued  and  reserved  for  the  chiefs.  Some  birds  were  tabued 
on  account  of  their  feathers ;  one  especially,  a  black  bird  which  has  a  small 
yellow  feather  under  each  wing.  The  great  feather  cloak  of  Kamehameha  I., 
which  is  still  kept  as  a  sign  of  royalty,  is  made  of  these  feathers,  and  contains 
probably  several  thousand  of  them,  thus  gathered,  two  from  each  bird. 

Further,  a  tabu  prohibited  women  from  eating  with  men,  even  with  their 
husbands ;  and  when,  on  the  death  of  the  first  Kamehameha,  his  Queen  Kahu- 
manu,  an  energetic  and  fearless  virago,  dared  for  the  first  time  to  eat  with  her 
son,  a  cry  of  ^orror  went  up  as  though  "  great  Pan  was  dead ;"  and  this  bold 
act  really  broke  the  power  of  the  heathen  priests. 

A  tabu  forbade  women  to  eat  cocoa-nuts  and  some  other  articles  of  food ; 
and  the  prohibition  appears  to  have  been  used  also  to  compel  sanitary  and 
other  useful  restraints,  for  I  have  been  told  that  a  tabu  preserved  girls  from 
marriage  until  they  had  attained  a  certain  age,  eighteen,  I  believe ;  and  to  this 
and  some  other  similar  regulations,  rigorously  enforced  in  the  old  times,  I  have 


THE  HAWAIIAN  AT  HOME :  MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS. 


83 


heard  old  residents  attribute  the  fertil 

ity  of  the  race  before  foreigners  came 

in. 

He  who  violated  a  tabu  was  at  once 

killed.     Capital  punishment  seems  to 

have  been  an  effective  restraint  upon 

crime  among  these  savages,  contrary  to 

the  theories  of  some  modern  philoso 

phers;   probably  it  was  effective  for 

two  reasons,  because  it  was  prompt  and 

because  it  was  certain.     One  wonders 

how  long  the  tabu  would  have  been  re 

spected,  had  a  violator  of  it  been  lodged 

in  jail  for  eighteen  months,  allowed  to 

appeal  his  case  through  three  courts, 

and  at  last  been  brained  amidst  the  ap 

peals  for  mercy  of  the  most  respect 

able  people  of  his  tribe,  and  had  his 

funeral  ceremonies  performed  by  the 

high-priest,  and  closed  with  a  eulogy 

upon  his  character,  and  insinuations 

against  the  sound  judgment  and  uprightness  of  the  chief  who  ordered  the  ex 

ecution. 

The  first  Kamehameha,  who  seems  to  have  been  a  savage  of  considerable 

merit,  and  a  firm  believer  in  capital  punishment,  subdued  the  Islands  to  his  own 

rule,  but  he  did  not  aim  to  break  the  power  of  the  chiefs  over  their  people.    He 

established  a  few  general  laws,  and  insisted  on  peace,  order,  and  obedience  to 

himself.  By  right 
of  his  conquest  all 
lands  were  sup 
posed  to  be  owned 
by  him  ;  he  gave  to 
one  chief  and  took 
away  from  anoth 
er  ;  he  rewarded 
his  favorites,  but 
he  did  not  alter 
the  condition  of 
the  people. 

But   as   traders 


KAMEHA.UEIIA    I. 


came    n 

11161X36 


as   com- 


84       NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

money  came  into  use,  the  feudal  system  began  to  be  oppressive.  Sandal-wood 
was  long  one  of  the  most  precious  products  of  these  islands — their  Chinese 
name,  indeed,  is  "  Sandal-wood  Islands."  The  chiefs,  greedy  for  money,  or  for 
what  the  ships  brought,  forced  their  unhappy  retainers  into  the  mountains  to 
gather  this  wood.  Exposed  to  cold,  badly  fed,  and  obliged  to  bear  painful 
burdens,  they  died  in  great  numbers,  so  that  it  was  a  blessing  to  the  Islanders 
when  the  wood  became  scarce.  Again,  supplies  of  food  were  sold  by  the  chiefs 
to  the  ships,  and  this  necessitated  unusual  labor  from  the  people.  One  famous 
chief  for  years  used  his  retainers  to  tow  ships  into  the  narrow  harbor  of  Hono 
lulu,  sending  them  out  on  the  reef,  where,  up  to  their  middle  in  water,  they 
shouldered  the  tow-line. 

Thus  when,  in  1848,  the  king,  at  the  instance  of  that  excellent  man  and  up 
right  judge,  Chief-justice  Lee,  gave  the  kuliana  rights,  he  relieved  the  people 
of  a  sore  oppression,  and  at  a  single  blow  destroyed  feudalism.  The  kuliana 
is  the  individual  holding.  Under  the  kuliana  law  each  native  householder  be 
came  entitled  to  the  possession  in  fee  of  such  land  as  he  had  occupied,  or  chose 
to  occupy  and  cultivate.  He  had  only  to  make  application  to  a  government 
officer,  ha've  the  tract  surveyed,  and  pay  a  small  sum  to  get  the  title.  It  is 
creditable  to  the  chiefs  that,  under  the  influence  of  the  missionaries,  they  con 
sented  to  this  important  change,  fully  knowing  that  it  meant  independence  to 
the  common  people  and  an  end  of  all  feudal  rights ;  but  it  must  be  added  that 
a  large  part  of  their  lands  remained  in  their  hands,  making  them,  of  course,  still 
wealthy  proprietors. 

Thus  the  present  system  of  land  tenure  on  the  Islands  is  much  the  same  as 
our  own ;  but  the  holdings  of  the  common  people  are  generally  small,  and  the 
chiefs,  or  their  successors  in  many  cases  foreigners,  still  maintain  their  right  to 
the  sea  fisheries  as  against  all  who  live  outside  the  old  boundaries  of  their  own 
"  lands." 

The  families  of  most  of  the  great  chiefs  have  become  extinct.  Their  wealth 
became  a  curse  to  them  when  foreigners  came  in  with  foreign  vices  and  foreign 
luxuries.  They  are  said  to  have  been  remarkable  as  men  and  women  of  ex 
traordinary  stature  and  of  uncommon  perfection  of  form.  I  have  been  told  of 
many  chiefesses  nearly  or  quite  six  feet  in  height,  and  many  chiefs  from  six  feet 
two  inches  to  six  feet  six,  and  in  one  case  six  feet  seven  inches  high.  There  is 
no  reason  to  doubt  the  universal  testimony  that  they  were,  as  a  class,  taller  and 
finer-looking  than  the  common  people ;  but  the  older  missionaries  and  residents 
believe  that  this  arose  not  from  their  being  of  a  different  race,  but  because  they 
were  absolutely  relieved  from  hard  work,  were  more  abundantly  and  carefully 
fed,  and  used  the  lomi-lomi  constantly.  It  is  supposable,  too,  that  in  the  wars 
which  prevailed  among  the  tribes  the  weaklings,  if  any  such  were  among  the 
chiefs,  were  pretty  sure  to  be  killed  off;  and  thus  a  natural  selection  went  on 
which  weeded  out  the  small  and  inefficient  chiefs. 


THE  HAWAIIAN  AT  HOME :  MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS. 


85 


Their  government  appears  to  have  been  a  "  despotism  tempered  by  assassina 
tion,"  for  great  as  was  the  respect  exacted  by  a  chief,  and  implicit  as  was  the 
obedience  he  commanded,  if  he  pushed  his  tyranny  too  far,  his  people  rose  and 
slew  him.  Thus  on  Kauai,  in  the  lower  part  of  the  Hanapepe  Valley,  a  huge  cliff 
is  shown,  concerning  which  the  tradition  runs  that  it  was  once  the  residence  of 
the  chief  who  ruled  this  valley.  This  person,  with  a  Titanic  and  Rabellaisian 
humor,  was  accustomed  to  descend  into  the  valley  in  the  evening,  seize  a  baby 
and  carry  it  to  his  stronghold  to  serve  him  as  a  pillow.  Having  slept  upon  it 
he  slew  it  next  morning ;  and  thus  with  a  refinement  of  luxury  he  required  a 
fresh  baby  every  evening.  When 
patience  had  ceased  to  be  a  virtue, 
according  to  our  more  modern  for 
mula,  the  people  went  up  one  night 
and  knocked  his  brains  out;  and 
there  was  a  change  of  dynasties. 

The  Hawaiian  of  the  present  day 
reads  his  Bible  and  newspaper,  writes 
letters,  wears  clothes,  owns  proper 
ty,  serves  in  the  Legislature  or  Par 
liament,  votes,  teaches  school,  acts 
as  justice  of  the  peace  and  even  as 
judge,  is  tax  collector  and  assessor, 
constable  and  preacher.  In  spite  of 
all  this,  or  rather  with  it,  he  retains 
the  oddest  traces  of  the  habits  and 
customs  of  another  age.  For  in 
stance,  he  will  labor  for  wages ;  but 
he  will  persistently  and  for  years  give 
away  to  his  relations  all  his  pay  ex 
cept  what  he  needs  for  his  actual  sub 
sistence,  and  if  he  is  prosperous  he  is 
pretty  sure  to  have  quite  a  swarm  of 
people  to  support.  A  lady  told  me 
that  having  repeatedly  clothed  her 
nurse  in  good  apparel,  and  finding 
this  liberal  soul,  every  time,  in  a  day  or  two  reduced  to  her  original  somewhat 
shabby  clothing,  she  at  last  reproached  her  for  her  folly.  "What  can  I  do?" 
the  woman  replied ;  "  they  come  and  ask  me  for  the  holaku,  or  the  handker 
chief,  or  whatever  I  have.  Suppose  you  say  they  are  yours — then  I  will  not 
give  them  away."  Accordingly,  the  next  new  suit  was  formally  declared  to 
belong  to  the  mistress :  it  was  not  given  away.  An  old  woman,  kept  chiefly 
for  her  skill  in  lomi-lomi  by  an  American  family,  asked  her  master  one  day  for 


AJSOIENT  OODB   OF   HAWAII. 


86      NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

ten  dollars.  He  gave  her  two  five-dollar  gold  pieces,  and,  to  his  amazement, 
saw  her  hand  them  over  immediately,  one  to  a  little  girl  and  one  to  a  boy, 
who  had  evidently  come  to  get  the  money — not  for  her  use  at  all.  A  cook 
in  my  qwn  family  asked  for  the  wages  due  him,  which  he  had  been  saving 
for  some  time;  he  received  forty-four  dollars,  and  gave  the  whole  amount 
at  once  to  his  father-in-law,  who  had  come  from  another  island  on  purpose 
to  get  this  money.  Nor  was  it  grudged  to  him,  so  far  as  any  of  us  could 
see.  "  By-and-by,  if  we  are  poor  and  in  need,  they  will  do  as  much  for  us," 
is  the  excuse. 

As  you  ride  along  in  the  country,  you  will  see  your  guide  slyly  putting  a  stone 
or  a  bunch  of  grass  on  a  ledge  near  some  precipice.  If  you  look,  you  will  see 
other  objects  of  the  same  kind  lying  there.  Ask  him  about  it  and  he  will 
tell  you,  with  a  laugh,  that  his  forefathers  in  other  times  did  so,  and  he  does 
the  same.  It  is,  in  fact,  a  peace  offering  to  the  local  divinity  of  the  place.  Is 
he,  then,  an  idolater?  Not  at  all;  not  necessarily,  at  least.  He  is  under  the 
compulsion  of  an  old  custom ;  and  he  will  even  tell  you  that  it  is  all  nonsense. 
The  same  force  leads  him  to  treat  with  respect  and  veneration  a  chief  or 
chiefess  even  if  abjectly  poor,  though  before  the  law  the  highest  chief  is  no 
better  than  the  common  people. 

They  are  hearty  and  even  gross  feeders;  and  probably  the  only  christianized 
people  who  live  almost  entirely  on  cold  victuals.  A  Hawaiian  does  not  need  a 
fire  to  prepare  a  meal;  and  at  a  luau,  or  feast,  all  the  food  is  served  cold, 
except  the  pig,  which  ought  to  be  hot. 

Hospitable  and  liberal  as  he  is  in  his  daily  life,  when  the  Hawaiian  invites 
his  friends  to  a  luau  he  expects  them  to  pay.  He  provides  for  them  roast  pig, 
poi,  baked  ti-root,  which  bears  a  startling  resemblance  in  looks  and  taste  to 
New  England  molasses-cake ;  ijaw  fish  and  shrimps,  limu,  which  is  a  sea-moss  of 
villainous  odor ;  kuulaau,  a  mixture  of  taro  and  cocoa-nut,  very  nice ;  paalolo, 
a  mixture  of  sweet-potato  and  cocoa-nut;  raw  and  cooked  cuttle-fish,  roast 
dog,  sea-eggs,  if  they  can  be  got;  and,  if  the  feast  is  something  above  the  or 
dinary,  raw  pickled  salmon  with  tomatoes  and  red-pepper. 

The  object  of  such  a  luau  is  usually  to  enable  the  giver  to  pay  for  his  new 
house,  or  to  raise  money  for  some  private  object  of  his  own.  Notice  of  the 
coming  feast  is  given  months  beforehand,  as  also  of  the  amount  each  visitor 
is  expected  to  give.  It  will  be  a  twenty-five  cent,  or  a  fifty  cent,  or  a  dollar 
luau.  The  pigs — the  centre-piece  of  the  feast — have  been  fattening  for  a  year 
before.  The  affair  is  much  discussed.  It  is  indispensable  that  all  who  attend 
shall  come  in  brand-new  clothing,  and  a  native  person  will  rather  deny  himself 
the  feast  than  appear  in  garments  which  have  been  worn  before.  A  few  of  the 
relatives  of  the  feast-giver  act  as  stewards,  and  they  must  be  dressed  strictly 
alike.  At  one  luau  which  I  had  the  happiness  to  attend  the  six  men  who  acted 
as  stewards  were  arrayed  in  green  cotton  shirts  and  crimson  cotton  trowsers, 


THE  HAWAIIAN  AT  HOME:   MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS.  87 

and  had  green  wreaths  on  their  heads.  I  need  not  say  that  they  presented  a 
truly  magnificent  appearance. 

To  such  a  luau  people  ride  thirty  or  forty  miles ;  arriving  often  the  evening 
beforehand,  in  order  to  be  early  at  the  feast  next  day.  When  they  sit  down 
each  person  receives  his  abundant  share  of  pig,  neatly  wrapped  in  ti-leaves ;  to 
the  remainder  of  the  food  he  helps  himself  as  he  likes.  They  eat,  and  eat,  and 
eat;  they  beat  their  stomachs  with  satisfaction;  they  talk  and  eat;  they  ride 
about  awhile,  and  eat  again ;  they  laugh,  sing,  and  eat.  At  last  a  man  finds 
he  can  hold  no  more.  He  is  "pau" — done.  He  declares  himself  "mauna" — 
a  mountain ;  and  points  to  his  abdomen  in  proof  of  his  statement.  Then,  unless 
he  expects  a  recurrence  of  hunger,  he  carefully  wraps  up  the  fragments  and 
bones  which  remain  of  his  portion  of  pig,  and  these  he  must  take  with  him. 
It  would  be  the  height  of  impoliteness  to  leave  them ;  and  each  visitor  scrupu 
lously  takes  away  every  remaining  bit  of  his  share.  If  now  you  look  you  will 
see  a  calabash  somewhere  in  the  middle  of  the  floor,  into  which  each,  as  he 
completes  his  meal,  put  his  quarter  or  half  doljar. 

In  the  evening  there  are  dancing  and  singing,  and  then  you  may  hear  and 
see  the  extremely  dramatic  meles  of  the  Hawaiians — a  kind  of  rapid  chant, 
the  tones  of  which  have  a  singular  fascination  for  my  ears.  A  man  and  woman, 
usually  elderly  or  middle-aged  people,  sit  down  opposite  each  other,  or  side  by 
side  facing  the  company.  One  begins  and  the  other  joins  in;  the  sound  is  as 
of  a  shrill  kind  of  drone;  it  is  accompanied  by  gesticulations;  and  each  chant, 
lasts  about  two  or  three  minutes,  and  ends  in  a  jerk.  The  swaying  of  the  lithe 
figures,  the  vehement  and  passionate  movements  of  the  arms  and  head,  the 
tragic  intensity  of  the  looks,  and  the  very  peculiar  music,  all  unite  to  fasten 
one's  attention,  and  to  make  this  spectacle  of  mele  singing,  as  I  have  said,  sin 
gularly  fascinating. 

The  language  of  the  meles  is  a  dialect  now  unused,  and  unintelligible  even  to 
most  of  the  people.  The  whole  chant  concerns  itself,  however,  with  a  detailed 
description  of  the  person  of  the  man  or  woman  or  child  to  which  or  in  whose 
honor  it  is  sung.  Thus  a  mele  will  begin  with  the  hair,  which  may  be  likened 
in  beauty  to  the  sea-moss  found  on  a  certain  part  of  Kauai ;  or  the  teeth,  which 
"  resemble  the  beautiful  white  pebbles  which  men  pick  up  on  the  beach  of  Ka- 
alui  Bay  on  Maui ;"  and  so  on.  Indeed  an  ancient  Hawaiian  mele  is  probably, 
in  its  construction,  much  like  the  Song  of  Solomon ;  though  I  am  told  that  the 
old  meles  concerned  themselves  with  personal  details  by  no  means  suitable  for 
modern  ears.  A  mele  is  always  sung  for  or  about  some  particular  person. 
Thus  I  have  heard  meles  for  the  present  king;  meles  for  a  man  or  woman 
present;  meles  for  a  chief;  and  on  one  occasion  I  was  told  they  sang  a  mele 
for  me ;  and  I  judged,  from  the  laughter  some  parts  of  it  excited,  that  my  feel 
ings  were  saved  by  my  ignorance  of  the  language. 

On  all  festive  occasions,  and  on  many  others,  the  Hawaiian  loves  to  dress  his 


88      NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

head  with  flowers  and  green  wreaths.  Les  or  garlands  are  made  of  several 
substances  besides  flowers;  though  the  most  favorite  are  composed  of  jasmine 
flowers,  or  the  brilliant  yellow  flowers  of  one  kind  of  ginger,  which  give  out  a 
somewhat  overpowering  odor.  These  are  hung  around  the  neck.  For  the 
head  they  like  to  use  wreaths  of  the  maile  shrub,  which  has  an  agreeable  odor, 
something  like  that  of  the  cherry  sticks  which  smokers  like  for  pipe  stems. 
This  ornamentation  does  not  look  amiss  on  the  young,  for  to  youth  much  is 
forgiven;  but  it  is  a  little  startling,  at  a  luau,  to  see  old  crones  and  grave 
grandfathers  arrayed  with  equal  gayety;  and  I  confess  that  though  while  the 
flowers  and  leaves  are  fresh  the  decorated  assembly  is  picturesque,  especially  as 
the  women  wear  their  hair  flowing,  and  many  have  beautiful  wavy  tresses,  yet 
toward  evening,  when  the  maile  has  wilted  and  the  garlands  are  rumpled  and 
decaying,  this  kind  of  ornamentation  gives  an  air  of  dissipation  to  the  company 
which  it  by  no  means  deserves. 

Finally,  the  daily  life  of  the  Hawaiian,  if  he  lives  near  the  sea-coast  and  is 
master  of  his  own  life,  is  divided  between  fishing,  taro  planting,  poi  making, 
and  mat  weaving.  All  these  but  the  last  are  laborious  occupations ;  but  they 
do  not  make  hard  work  of  them.  Two  days'  labor  every  week  will  provide 
abundant  food  for  a  man  and  his  family.  He  has  from  five  to  ten  dollars  a 
year  of  taxes  to  pay,  and  this  money  he  can  easily  earn.  The  sea  always  sup 
plies  him  with  fish,  sea-moss,  and  other  food.  He  is  fond  of  fussing  at  differ 
ent  things ;  but  he  also  lies  down  on  the  grass  a  good  deal — why  shouldn't  he  ? 
—he  reads  his  paper,  he  plays  at  cards,  he  rides  about  a  good  deal,  he  sleeps 
more  or  less,  and  about  midnight  he  gets  up  and  eats  a  hearty  supper.  Al 
together  he  is  a  very  happy  creature,  and  by  no  means  a  bad  one.  You  need 
not  lock  your  door  against  him ;  and  an  election  and  a  luau  occasionally,  give 
him  all  the  excitement  he  craves,  and  that  not  of  an  unwholesome  kind. 

What  there  is  happy  about  his  life  he  owes  to  the  fine  climate  and  the  mis 
sionaries.  The  latter  have  given  him  education  enough  to  read  his  Bible  and 
newspaper,  and  thus  to  take  some  interest  in  and  have  some  knowledge  of 
affairs  in  the  world  at  large.  They  and  their  successors,  the  political  rulers, 
have  made  life  and  property  secure,  and  caused  roads  and,  bridges  to  be  built 
and  maintained ;  and  the  Hawaiian  is  fond  of  moving  about.  The  little  inter- 
island  steamer  and  the  schooners  are  always  full  of  people  on  their  travels; 
and  as  they  do  not  have  hotel  bills  to  pay,  but  live  on  their  friends  on  these 
visits,  there  is  a  great  deal  of  such  movement. 

It  would  hardly  do  to  compare  the  Hawaiian  people  with  those  of  New 
England ;  but  they  will  compare  favorably  in  comfort,  in  intelligence,  in  wealth, 
in  morals,  and  in  happiness  with  the  common  people  of  most  European  nations ; 
and  when  one  sees  here  how  happily  people  can  live  in  a  small  way,  and  with 
out  ambitious  striving  for  wealth  or  a  career,  he  can  not  but  wonder  if,  after 
all,  in  the  year  2873,  our  pushing  and  hard-pushed  civilization  of  the  nineteenth 
century  will  get  as  great  praise  as  it  gets  from  ourselves,  its  victims. 


COMMERCIAL  AND  POLITICAL. 


89 


HAWAIIANS  EATING   POI. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

COMMERCIAL  AND  POLITICAL. 

COMMERCIAL  relations  form  and  foster  political  alliances,  especially  be 
tween  a  weak  state  and  a  strong  one.  The  annual  report  for  1872  of  im 
ports  and  exports,  made  up  by  the  Collector-general  of  the  Hawaiian  Kingdom, 
shows  how  completely  the  Islands  depend  upon  the  United  States. 

Of  146  merchant  vessels  and  steamers  entered  at  Hawaiian  ports  during  1872, 
90  were  American,  only  15  were  English  ;  6  were  German,  9  belonged  to  other  na 
tions,  and  26  were  Hawaiian.  Of  a  total  of  98,647  tons  of  shipping,  73,975  were 
American,  6714  Hawaiian,  and  but  7741  British.  Of  47  whaling  vessels  calling 
at  Island  ports  during  the  year,  42  were  American,  2  Hawaiian,  and  3  British. 

Of  a  little  less  than  16,000,000  pounds  of  sugar  exported  during  the  same 
year,  14,500,000  were  sent  to  the  United  States;  of  39,000  pounds  of  coffee 
34,000  were  sent  to  us;  of  1,349,503  pounds  of  rice  and  paddy  exported, 
1,317,203  pounds  came  to  the  United  States.  All  the  cotton,  all  the  goat-skins, 
nearly  all  the  hides,  all  the  wool,  the  greater  part  of  the  peanuts  and  the  pulu, 
in  short,  almost  the  whole  exports  of  the  Islands,  are  sent  to  the  United  States. 


90       NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

On  the  other  hand,  of  $1,234,147,  the  value  of  duty-paying  merchandise  im 
ported  during  1872  into  the  Islands,  $806,111  worth  came  from  the  United 
States,  $155,939  from'  Great  Britain,  and  $205,396  from  Germany.  Besides 
this,  of  the  total  value  of  bonded  goods,  $349,435,  the  large  amount  of  $135,487 
was  brought  from  sea  by  whalemen,  almost  all  of  whom  were  Americans ;  and 
$99,567  worth  was  goods  from  the  United  States;  or  $235,000  of  American 
products  against  $21,801  of  British,  and  $23,904  of  German  importation,  in 
bond. 

It  is  plain  that  the  Island  trade  is  so  largely  in  our  hands  that  no  other  na 
tion  can  be  said  to  dispute  it  with  us.  If  our  flag  flew  over  Honolulu  we  could 
hardly  expect  to  have  a  more  complete  monopoly  of  Hawaiian  commerce  than 
we  already  enjoy.  Moreover,  almost  all  the  sugar-plantations — the  most  pro 
ductive  and  valuable  property  on  the  Islands — are  owned  by  Americans ;  and 
the  same  is  true  of  the  greater  number  of  stock  farms. 

Our  political  predominance  on  the  Islands  is  as  complete  as  the  commercial. 
In  the  present  cabinet  all  the  ministers  except  one  are  Americans.  This  was 
true  also  of  the  cabinet  of  the  late  king.  Of  the  Supreme  Court,  two  of  the 
judges  are  Americans,  and  one  is  German.  Almost  all  the  executive  and  ad 
ministrative  offices  are  in  the  hands  of  Americans  or  Hawaiians. 

Nor  can  any  foreign  power  rightly  find  fault  with  this  state  of  things.  What 
the  Islands  are  they  are  because  of  American  effort,  American  enterprise, 
American  capital.  American  missionaries  civilized  them ;  Americans  gave 
them  laws  wisely  adapted  to  the  customs  and  habits  of  their  people ;  American 
enterprise  and  Boston  capital  established  the  sugar  culture  and  other  of  the 
important  industries;  perhaps  I  ought  to  add  that  American  sailors  spread 
among  the  Islands  the  vices  and  diseases  which,  more  than  all  else,  have  caused 
the  rapid  decrease  of  the  population,  and  to  combat  and  check  which  added 
toil  and  trouble  to  the  labors  of  the  American  missionaries. 

The  government  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands  consists  of  a  king  and  a  Parlia 
ment.  The  Parliament  meets  once  in  two  years;  and  under  the  late  king 
consisted  of  but  a  single  House.  The  present  king  has  promised  to  call  to 
gether  two  Houses,  of  which  but  one  will  be  elected.  The  other  consists  of 
"  Nobles,"  who  are  nominated  or  created  by  the  king  for  life,  but  have  no  title 
nor  salary  unless  they  are  called  to  office.  By  the  Constitution  the  reigning 
king  appoints  his  successor,  but  his  nomination  must  be  confirmed  by  the 
Nobles.  As,  however,  he  may  at  pleasure  increase  the  number  of  Nobles,  the 
appointment  virtually  rests  with  him.  If  he  dies  without  naming  a  successor, 
the  Parliament  has  the  right  and  duty  to  elect  a  new  sovereign. 

There  is  a  slight  property  qualification  for  voters,  and  a  heavier  one  for 
members  of  Parliament. 

The  revenue  of  the  Government,  which  amounts  to  about  half  a  million  per 
annum,  is  derived  from  the  various  sources  specified  in  the  official  returns  of 


COMMERCIAL  AND  POLITICAL.  91 

the  Minister  of  Finance,  which  I  copy  below.     It  must  be  understood  that  this 
report  covers  two  years  : 

The  balance  in  the  Treasury  at  the  close  of  the  Jast  fiscal  period  (March) 

>•        «J>ul,5bO  -0 
31,  1870)  was  ..........................................................................  ) 

And  there  has  been  received  from  Foreign  Imports  ............  $396,418  15 

';  Fines,  Penalties,  and  Costs  .        47,28913 

"  Internal  Commerce  ...........       98,98251 

"  "  "       Taxes  .................      215,96251 

"  "  "  Fees  and  Perquisities  .........       22,19445 

"  "  "  Government  Realizations....      124,07137 

"  "  "  Miscellaneous  Sources  ........       60,03823 

964,956  35 


$1,026,536  55 
The  expenditures  during  two  years  are  detailed  thus  in  the  same  report  : 

For  Civil  List  ............................................................     $50,00000 

"    Permanent  Settlements  ..........................................       18,00000 

"    Legislature  and  Privy  Council  ..................................        15,281  63 

"    Department  of  Judiciary  .........................................       73,562  61 

"  Foreign  Affairs  and  War  .....................       98,02824 

"  Interior  ...........................................     396,806  41 

"  Finance  ...........................................     141,345  29 

"  Attorney-general  ..............................        88,41217 

"    Bureau  of  Public  Instruction  ...................................       88,347  79 

969,78414 
Balance  on  hand  March  31,1872  ...................................................  56,752  41 

$1,026,536  55 

The  internal  taxes  include  the  property  tax,  which  is  quite  low,  one  and  a 
half  per  cent.  Every  male  adult  pays  a  poll  tax  of  one  dollar,  a  school  tax  of 
two  dollars,  and  a  road  tax  of  two  dollars.  The  following  is  the  detail  of  the 
internal  taxes  for  the  two  years  1870-72  : 

Real  Estate  and  Personal  Property  .......................................................  $97,685  11 

Horses  ..........................................................................................  53,00600 

Dogs  ................  .  ............................................................................  22,271  40 

Mules  ...................  f  .......................................................................  6,14000 

Carriages  .......................................................................................  3,12500 

Poll  ..............................................................................................  27,841  00 

Native  Seamen  ....................................................  .  ...........................  5,894  00 


$215,962  51 

Among  the  licenses  the  monopoly  of  opium  selling  brings  the  Government 
822,248,  a  prodigious  sum  when  it  is  considered  that  there  are  but  2500 
Chinese  in  the  Islands ;  these  being  the  chief,  though  not  the  only  consumers. 
There  is,  besides,  a  duty  of  ten  per  cent,  on  the  opium  when  imported,  and  the 


92       NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

merchant  must  make  his  profit.  I  had  the  curiosity  to  look  a  little  into  the 
opium  consumption.  It  is  said  that  its  use  is  slowly  spreading  among  the 
natives,  particularly  where  these  are  employed  with  Chinese  on  the  plantations. 
But  the  quantity  used  by  the  Chinese  themselves  is  prodigious.  I  was  shown 
one  man,  a  cook,  whose  wages,  fourteen  dollars  per  month,  were  entirely  spent 
on  opium ;  and  whose  master  supplied  the  poor  creature  with  clothes,  because 
he  had  nothing  left  out  of  his  pay.  In  other  cases  the  amount  spent  was  near 
ly  as  great. 

Eight  thousand  two  hundred  and  sixty-five  dollars  were  also  realized  for 
awa  licenses.  Awa  is  a  root  the  use  of  which  produces  a  frightful  kind  of 
intoxication,  in  which  the  victim  falls  into  stupor,  his  features  are  contorted, 
and  he  has  seizures  resembling  epilepsy.  The  body  of  the  habitual  awa  drink 
er  becomes  covered  with  white  scales ;  and  it  is  said  that  awa  drinking  pre 
disposes  to  leprosy.  The  manner  of  preparing  awa  is  peculiarly  disgusting. 
The  root  is  chewed  by  women,  and  they  spit  out  well-chewed  mouthfuls  into 
a  calabash.  Here  it  settles,  and  the  liquor  is  then  drunk.  It  is  said  that  in 
old  times  the  chiefs  used  to  get  together  the  prettiest  young  girls  to  chew  awa 
for  them. 

The  king  receives  a  salary  of  $22,500  per  annum ;  the  cabinet  ministers  and 
the  chief-justice  receive  $5000,  and  the  two  associate  justices  $4000  per  annum. 
These  are  the  largest  salaries  paid ;  and  in  general  the  public  service  of  the 
Islands  is  very  cheaply  as  well  as  ably  and  conscientiously  conducted.  There 
is  an  .opportunity  for  retrenchment  in  abolishing  some  of  the  offices ;  but  the 
saving  which  could  thus  be  effected  would  after  all  not  be  great.  The  present 
Government  means,  I  have  been  told,  to  undertake  some  reforms ;  these  will 
probably  consist  in  getting  the  king  to  turn  the  crown  lands  into  public  lands, 
to  be  sold  or  leased  for  the  benefit  of  the  treasury.  They  are  now  leased,  and 
the  income  is  a  perquisite  of  the  king,  a  poor  piece  of  policy,  for  the  chiefs 
from  among  whom  a  sovereign  is  selected  are  all  wealthy;  the  present  king, 
for  instance,  has  an  income  of  probably  $25,000  per  annum  from  private 
property  of  his  own.  It  is  also  proposed  to  lessen  the  number  of  cabinet 
ministers ;  but  this  will  scarcely  be  done.  They  are  but  four  in  number 
now,  having  charge  of  Foreign  Affairs,  Finance,  and  the  Interior  and  Law 
Departments. 

There  is  a  debt  of  about  $300,000  which  is  entirely  held  within  the  king 
dom;  and  the  public  property  is  of  value  sufficient  to  pay  three  times  this 
sum.  It  is  probable,  however,  that,  like  many  other  governments,  the  Hawaiian 
ministry  will  have  to  deal  with  a  deficit  when  the  next  Legislature  meets ;  and 
this  will  probably  bring  reform  and  retrenchment  before  them.  There  is  not 
much  hope  of  increasing  the  revenue  from  new  and  still  untouched  sources, 
for  there  are  but  few  such. 

The  taxable  industries  and  wealth  of  the  Islands  can  not  be  very  greatly 
increased. 


COMMERCIAL  AND  POLITICAL.  93 

Finding  yourself  in  a  tropical  country,  with  a  charming  and  equable  climate, 
and  with  abundant  rains,  you  are  apt  to  think  that,  given  only  a  little  soil,  many 
things  would  grow  and  could  be  profitably  raised.  It  is  one  of  the  surprises 
of  a  visitor  to  the  Hawaiian  group  to  discover  that  in  reality  very  few  products 
succeed  here. 

Coffee  was  largely  planted,  and  promised  to  become  a  staple  of  the  Islands ; 
but  a  blight  attacked  th;  trees  and  proved  so  incurable  that  the  best  planta 
tions  were  dug  up  and  turned  into  sugar ;  and  the  export  of  coffee,  which  has 
been  very  variable,  but  which  rose  to  415,000  pounds  in  1870,  fell  to  47,000 
pounds  in  the  next  year,  and  to  39,276  pounds  in  1872. 

Sea-island  cotton  would  yield  excellent  crops  if  it  were  not  that  a  caterpillar 
devours  the  young  plants,  so  that  its  culture  has  almost  ceased.  Only  10,000 
pounds  were  exported  in  1872.  The  orange  thrives  in  so  few  localities  on  the 
Islands  that  it  is  not  an  article  of  commerce :  only  two  boxes  were  exported 
last  year,  though  San  Francisco  brings  this  fruit  from  Otaheite  by  a  voyage  of 
thirty  days.  A  bur  worse  than  any  found  in  California  discourages  the  sheep- 
raiser  in  some  of  the  Islands.  The  cacao-tree  has  been  tried,  but  a  blight  kills 
it.  In  the  garden  of  Dr.  Hillebrandt,  near  Honolulu,  I  saw  specimens  of  the 
cinnamon  and  allspice  trees;  but  again  I  was  told  that  the  blight  attacked 
them,  and  did  not  allow  them  to  prosper.  Wheat  and  other  cereals  grow  and 
mature,  but  they  are  subject  to  the  attacks  of  weevil,  so  that  they  can  not  be 
stored  or  shipped;  and  if  you  feed  your  horse  oats  or  barley  in  Honolulu, 
these  have  been  imported  fro'm  California.  Silk-worms  have  been  tried  but 
failed.  Rice  does  well,  and  its  culture  is  increasing. 

Moreover,  there  is  but  an  inconsiderable  local  market.  A  farmer  on  Maui 
told  me  he  had  sent  twenty  bags  of  potatoes  to  Honolulu,  and  so  overstocked 
the  market  that  he  got  back  only  the  price  of  his  bags.  Eggs  and  all  other 
perishable  products,  for  the  same  reason,  vary  much  in  price,  and  are  at  times 
high-priced  and  hardly  attainable.  It  will  not  do  for  the  farmer  to  raise  much 
for  sale.  The  population  is  not  only  divided  among  different  and  distant 
islands,  but  it  consists  for  much  the  largest  part  of  people  who  live  sufficiently 
well  on  taro,  sweet-potatoes,  fish,  pork,  and  beef — all  articles  which  they  raise 
for  themselves,  and  which  they  get  by  labor  and  against  disadvantages  which 
few  white  farmers  would  encounter. 

For  instance,  the  Puna  coast  of  Hawaii  is  a  district  where  for  thirty  miles 
there  is  so  little  fresh  water  to  be  found  that  travelers  must  bring  their  own 
supplies  in  bottles;  and  Dr.  Coan  told  me  that  in  former  days  the  people, 
knowing  that  he  could  not  drink  the  brackish  stuff  which  satisfied  them, 
used  to  collect  fresh  water  for  his  use  when  he  made  the  missionary  tour, 
from  the  drippings  of  dew  in  caves.  Wells  are  here  out  of  the  question,  for 
there  is  no  soil  except  a  little  decomposed  lava,  and  the  lava  lets  through 
all  the  water  which  comes  from  rains.  There  are  few  or  no  streams  to  be 


94       NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

led  down  from  the  mountains.  There  are  no  fields,  according  to  our  meaning 
of  the  word. 

Formerly  the  people  in  this  district  were  numbered  by  thousands :  even  yet 
there  is  a  considerable  population,  not  unprosperous  by  any  means.  Churches 
and  schools  are  as  frequent  as  in  the  best  part  of  New  England.  Yet  when  I 
asked  a  native  to  show  me  his  sweet-potato  patch,  he  took  me  to  the  most  curi 
ous  and  barren-looking  collection  of  lava  you  can  imagine,  surrounded,  too,  by 
a  very  formidable  wall  made  of  lava,  and  explained  to  me  that  by  digging  holes 
in  the  lava  where  it  was  a  little  decayed,  carrying  a  handful  of  earth  to  each  of 
these  holes,  and  planting  there  in  a  wet  season,  he  got  a  very  satisfactory  crop. 
Not  only  that,  but  being  desirous  of  something  more  than  a  bare  living, 
this  man  had  planted  a  little  coffee  in  the  same  way,  and  had  just  sold  1600 
pounds,  his  last  crop.  He  owned  a  good  wooden  house ;  politely  gave  up  his 
own  mats  for  me  to  sleep  on ;  possessed  a  Bible  and  a  number  of  other  works 
in  Hawaiian ;  after  supper  called  his  family  together,  who  squatted  on  the  floor 
while  he  read  from  his  Scriptures,  and,  after  singing  a  hymn,  knelt  in  family 
prayers;  and  finally  spent  half  an  hour  before  going  to  bed  in  looking  over 
his  newspaper.  This  man,  thoroughly  respectable,  of  good  repute,  hospitable, 
comfortable  in  every  way  so  far  as  I  could  see,  lived,  and  lived  well,  on  twenty 
or  thirty  acres  of  lava,  of  which  not  even  a  Vermonter  would  have  given  ten 
cents  for  a  thousand  acres;  and  which  was  worthless  to  any  one  except  a  na 
tive  Hawaiian. 

Take  next  the  grazing  lands.  In  many  parts  they  are  so  poorly  supplied 
with  water  that  they  can  not  carry  much  stock.  They  also  are  often  astonish 
ingly  broken  up,  for  they  frequently  lie  high  up  on  the  sides  of  the  mountains, 
and  in  many  parts  they  are  rocky  and  lava-covered  beyond  belief.  On  Hawaii, 
the  largest  island,  lava  covers  and  makes  desolate  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
acres,  and  on  the  other  and  smaller  islands,  except,  perhaps,  Kauai,  there  is 
corresponding  desolation.  Thus  the  area  of  grazing  lands  is  less  than  one 
would  think.  But  on  the  other  hand,  cattle  are  very  cheaply  raised.  They 
require  but  little  attention ;  and  the  stock-owners,  who  are  now  boiling  down 
their  cattle  and  selling  merely  the  hides  and  tallow,  are  said  to  be  just  at  this 
time  the  most  prosperous  people  on  the  Islands.  Sheep  are  kept  too,  but  not 
in  great  flocks  except  upon  the  small  island  of  Niihau,  which  was  bought 
some  years  ago  by  two  brothers,  Sinclair  by  name,  who  have  now  a  flock  of 
fifteen  or  eighteen  thousand  sheep  there,  I  am  told ;  on  Molokai  and  part  of 
Hawaii ;  and  upon  the  small  island  of  Lanai,  where  Captain  Gibson  has  six  or 
eight  thousand  head. 

One  of  the  conspicuous  trees  of  the  Hawaiian  forests  is  the  Kukui  or  candle- 
nut.  Its  pale  green  foliage  gives  the  mountain  sides  sometimes  a  disagreea 
ble  look;  though  where  it  grows  among  the  Ko  trees,  whose  leaves  are  of 
a  dark  green,  the  contrast  is  not  unpleasant.  From  its  abundance  I  supposed 


COMMERCIAL  AND  POLITICAL. 


95 


the  candle-nut  might  be  made  an  article  of  export;  but  the  country  is  so 
rough  that  the  gathering  of  the  nuts  is  very  laborious;  and  several  persons 
who  have  experimented  in  expressing  the  oil  from  the  nut  have  discovered 
that  it  did  not  pay  cost.  Only  two  thousand  pounds  of  Kukui  nuts  were  ex 
ported  in  1872. 

Sandal-wood  was  once  a  chief  article  of  export.  It  grows  on  the  higher 
mountain  slopes,  and  is  still  collected,  for  20,232  pounds  were  exported  in  1872, 
and  a  small  quantity  is  worked  up  in  the  Islands.  The  cocoa-nut  is  not  planted 
in  sufficient  quantities  to  make  it  an  article  of  commerce.  Only  950  nuts  were 
exported  last  year.  Of  pulu  421,227  pounds  were  shipped ;  this  is  a  soft  fuzz 
taken  from  the  crown  of  a  species  of 
fern ;  it  is  used  to  stuff  bedding,  and 
is  as  warm,  though  not  as  durable,  as 
feathers.  Also  32,161  pounds  of  "fun 
gus,"  a  kind  of  toad-stool  which  grows 
on  decaying  wood,  and  is  used  in  China 
as  an  article  of  food. 

There  has  been  no  lack  of  ingenuity, 
enterprise,  or  industry  among  the  in 
habitants.  The  Government  has  im 
ported  several  kinds  of  trees  and  plants, 
as  the  cinnamon,  pepper,  and  allspice, 
but  they  have  not  prospered.  Private 
effort  has  not  been  wanting  either. 
But  nature  does  not  respond.  Sugar 
and  rice  are  and  must  it  seems  con 
tinue  to  be  the  staples  of  the  Islands; 
and  the  culture  of  these  products  will 
in  time  be  considerably  increased. 

This,  it  appears  to  me,  decides  the 
future  of  the  Islands  and  the  character 
of  their  population.  A  sugar  or  rice 

plantation  needs  at  most  three  or  four  American  workmen  aside  from  the 
manager.  The  laboring  force  will  be  Hawaiians  or  Chinese;  for  they  alone 
work  cheaply,  and  will  content  themselves  in  the  situation  of  plantation  labor 
ers.  It  is  likely,  therefore,  that  the  future  population  of  the  Islands  will  con 
sist  largely,  as  it  does  now,  of  Hawaiians  and  Chinese,  and  a  mixture  of  these 
two  races ;  and,  no  doubt,  these  will  live  very  happily  there. 

For  farming,  in  the  American  sense  of  the  word,  the  Islands  are,  as  these 
facts  show,  entirely  unfit.  I  asked  again  and  again  of  residents  this  question : 
"  Would  you  advise  your  friend  in  Massachusetts  or  Illinois,  a  farmer  with 
two  or  three  thousand  dollars  in  money,  to  settle  out  here  ?"  and  received  in- 


NATIVE  HAY   PEDDLER. 


96       NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

variably  the  answer,  "  No ;  it  would  be  wrong  to  do  so."  Transportation  of 
farm  products  from  island  to  island  is  too  costly ;  there  is  no  local  market  ex 
cept  Honolulu,  and  that  is  very  rapidly  and  easily  overstocked ;  Oregon  or 
California  potatoes  are  sold  in  the  Islands  at  a  price  which  would  leave  the  local 
farmer  without  a  profit.  In  short,  farming  is  not  a  pursuit  in  the  Islands.  A 
farmer  would  not  starve,  for  beef  is  cheap,  and  he  could  always  raise  vegetables 
enough  for  himself ;  but  he  would  not  get  ahead.  Moreover,  perishable  fruits, 
like  the  banana,  have  but  a  limited  chance  for  export.  The  Islands,  unluckily, 
lie  to  windward  of  California;  and  a  sailing  vessel,  beating  up  to  San  Francis 
co,  is  very  apt  to  make  so  long  a  passage  that  if  she  carries  bananas  they  spoil 
on  the  way.  Hence  but  4520  bunches  were  shipped  from  the  Islands  in  1872 
—which  was  all  the  monthly  steamer  had  room  for. 

These  circumstances  seem  to  settle  the  question  of  annexation,  which  is 
sometimes  discussed.  To  annex  the  Islands  would  be  to  burden  ourselves 
with  an  outlying  territory  too  distant  to  be  cheaply  defended ;  and  containing 
a  population  which  will  never  be  homogeneous  with  our  own;  a  country  which 
would  neither  attract  nor  reward  our  industrious  farmers  and  mechanics; 
which  offers  not  the  slightest  temptation  to  emigration,  except  a  most  delight 
ful  climate,  and  which  has,  and  must  by  its  circumstances  and  natural  forma 
tion  continue  to  have,  chiefly  a  mixed  population  of  Chinese  and  other  coolies, 
whom  it  is  assuredly  not  to  our  interest  to  take  into  our  family.  I  suppose 
it  is  a  proper  rule  that  we  should  not  encumber  ourselves  with  territory  which 
by  reason  of  unchangeable  natural  causes  will  repel  our  farmers  and  artisan^, 
and  which,  therefore,  will  not  become  in  time  Americanized.  If  this  is  true, 
we  ought  not  to  annex  the  Hawaiian  Islands. 

Moreover,  there  is  no  excuse  for  annexation,  in  the  desire  of  the  people.  The 
present  Government  is  mild,  just,  and  liked  by  the  people.  They  can  easily 
make  it  cheaper  whenever  they  want  to.  The  native  people  are  very  strongly 
opposed  to  annexation ;  they  have  a  strong  feeling  of  nationality,  and  consid 
erable  jealousy  of  foreign  influence.  Annexation  to  our  own  or  any  other 
country  would  be  without  their  consent. 

As  to  the  residents  of  foreign  birth,  a  few  of  them  favor  annexation  to  the 
United  States ;  but  only  a  few.  A  large  majority  would  oppose  it  as  strenuous 
ly  as  the  native  people.  Most  of  the  planters  see  that  it  would  break  up  their 
labor  system,  demoralize  the  workmen,  and  probably  for  years  check  the  pro 
duction  of  sugar. 

One  thing  is  certain,  however.  If  the  Islands  ever  offer  themselves  to  any 
foreign  power,  it  will  be  to  the  United  States.  Their  people,  foreign  as  well 
as  native,  look  to  us  as  their  neighbors  and  friends ;  and  the  king  last  summer 
blurted  out  one  day  when  too  much  wine  had  made  him  imprudent,  this  truth : 
that  if  annexation  came,  it  must  be  to  the  United  States. 

As  I  write  a  negotiation  has  been  opened  with  the  United  States  Govern- 


COMMERCIAL  AND  POLITICAL. 


97 


merit,  for  the  purpose  of  offering  us  Pearl  River  in  exchange  for  a  reciprocity 
treaty.  Pearl  River  is  an  extensive,  deep,  and  well-protected  bay,  about  ten 
miles  from  Honolulu.  It  would  answer  admirably  for  a  naval  station ;  and  if 
the  United  States  were  a  second-rate  power  likely  to  be  bullied  by  other  na 
tions,  we  might  need  a  naval  station  in  the  Pacific  Ocean.  In  our  present  con 
dition,  when  no  single  power  dares  to  make  war  with  us,  and  when,  unless  we 
become  shamelessly  aggressive,  no  alliance  of  European  powers  against  us  for 
purposes  of  war  is  possible,  the  chief  use  of  distant  naval  stations  appears  to 
me  to  be  as  convenient  out-of-the-way  places  for  wasting  the  public  money. 


IIULA-ITOXA,  OR  DANOING-QIKI-S. 

Pearl  River  would  be  an  admirable  spot  for  a  dozen  pleasant  sinecures,  and 
the  expenditure  of  three  or  four  millions  of  money.  It  seems  to  me,  therefore, 
that  it  would  be  a  dear  bargain.  For  the  accommodation  of  merchant  steam 
ers  and  ships  and  their  repair,  Honolulu  offers  sufficient  facilities.  There  are 
ingenious  American  mechanics  there  who  have  even  taken  a  frigate  upon  a 
temporary  dry-dock,  and  repaired  her  hull. 

But  justice,  kindly  feeling,  and  a  clue  regard  for  our  future  interests  in  the 

Pacific  Ocean  ought  to  induce  us  to  establish  at  once  a  reciprocity  treaty  with 

, the  Hawaiian  Government.     We  should  lose  but  little  revenue;   and  should 

make  good  that  loss  by  the  greater  market  which  would  be  opened  for  our 


98       NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

own  products,  in  the  Islands.  Such  a  treaty  would  bring  more  capital  to  the 
Islands,  increase  their  prosperity,  and,  at  the  same  time,  bind  them  still  more 
closely  and  permanently  to  us.  It  would  pave  the  way  to  annexation,  if  that 
should  ever  become  advisable. 

The  politics  of  the  Hawaiian  Kingdom  are  not  very  exciting.  In  those  for 
tunate  Isles  the  Legislature  troubles  itself  chiefly  about  the  horse  and  dog  tax. 
The  late  king,  who  was  of  an  irascible  temper,  did  not  always  treat  his  faithful 
Commons  with  conspicuous  civility.  He  sometimes  told  them  that  they  had 
talked  long  enough  and  had  better  adjourn ;  and  they  usually  took  his  advice. 
The  present  king,  who  belonged  to  "his  majesty's  opposition"  during  the  late 
reign,  has  yet  to  develop  his  qualities  as  a  ruler.  Pie  has  shown  sound  judg 
ment  in  the  nomination  of  his  cabinet ;  and  he  is  believed  to  have  the  welfare 
of  the  people  at  heart.  He  is  unmarried ;  but  is  not  likely  to  marry ;  and  he 
will  probably  nominate  a  successor  from  one  of  the  chief  or  ruling  families  still 
remaining.  The  list  from  which  he  can  choose  is  not  very  long;  and  it  is 
most  probable,  as  this  is  written,  that  he  will  nominate  to  succeed  him  Mrs. 
Bernice  Pauahi  Bishop,  wife  of  the  present  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs.  Mrs. 
Bishop  is  a  lady  of  education  and  culture,  of  fine  presence,  every  way  fit  to 
rule  over  her  people ;  and  her  selection  would  be  satisfactory  to  the  foreign 
residents  as  well  as  to  the  best  of  the  Hawaiian  people. 


THE  LEPER  ASYLUM  ON  MOLOKAI. 


99 


HAWAIIAN   STYLE   OF   DKESS. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  LEPER  ASYLUM  ON  MOLOKAI. 

SO  much  has  been  said  and  written  of  late  about  the  disease  called  leprosy 
and  its  ravages  in  the  Sandwich  Islands  that  I  had  the  curiosity  to  visit 
the  asylum  for  lepers  at  Molokai,  where  now  very  nearly  all  the  people  suf 
fering  from  this  disease  have  been  collected,  under  a  law  which  directs  this 
seclusion. 

The  steamer  IZilauea  left  Honolulu  one  evening  at  half-past  five  o'clock,  and 
dropped  several  of  us  about  two  o'clock  at  night  into  a  whale-boat  near  a  point 
on  the  lee  side  of  Molokai.  Here  we  were  landed,  and  presently  mounted 
horses  and  rode  seven  or  eight  miles  to  the  house  of  a  German,  Mr.  Meyer, 
who  is  the  superintendent  of  the  leper  settlement,  and  also,  I  believe,  of  a  cattle 
farm  which  belongs  to  the  heirs  of  the  late  king. 

Mi;  Meyer  has  lived  on  Molokai  since  1853.     He  is  married  to  a  Hawaiian, 


100    NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

and  has  a  large  family  of  sons  and  daughters  who  have  been  carefully  and  ex 
cellently  brought  up,  I  was  told.  Mrs.  Meyer,  who  presided  at  breakfast,  is  one 
of  those  tall  and  grandly  proportioned  women  whom  you  meet  among  the 
native  population  not  infrequently,  who  enable  you  to  realize  how  it  was  that 
in  the  old  times  the  women  exercised  great  influence  in  Hawaiian  politics. 
She  seemed  born  to  command,  and  yet  her  benevolent  countenance  and  friendly 
smile  of  welcome  showed  that  she  would  probably  rule  gently. 

From  Mr.  Meyer's  we  rode  some  miles  again,  until  at  last  we  dismounted  at 
the  top  or  edge  of  the  great  precipice,  at  the  foot  of  which,  two  thousand  feet 
below,  lies  the  plain  of  Kalawao,  occupied  by  the  lepers.  At  the  top  we  four 
dismounted,  for  the  trail  to  the  bottom,  though  not  generally  worse  than  the 
trail  into  the  Yosemite  Valley,  has  some  places  which  would  be  difficult  and, 
perhaps,  dangerous  for  horses. 

From  the  edge  of  the  Pali  or  precipice  the  plain  below,  which  contains  about 
16,000  acres,  looks  like  an  absolute  flat,  bounded  on  three  sides  by  the  blue 
Pacific.  Horses  awaited  us  at  the  bottom,  and  we  soon  discovered  that  the 
plain  possessed  some  considerable  elevations  and  depressions.  It  is  believed 
to  have  been  once  the  bottom  of  a  vast  crater,  of  which  the  Pali  we  clambered 
down  formed  one  of  the  sides,  the  others  having  sunk  beneath  the  ocean,  leav 
ing  a  few  traces  on  one  side.  It  has  yet  one  considerable  cone,  a  hill  two 
hundred  feet  high,  a  well-preserved  subsidiary  crater,  on  whose  bottom  grass 
is  now  growing,  while  a  little  pool  of  salt  water,  which  rises  and  falls  with  the 
tide,  shows  a  connection  with  the  ocean.  A  ride  along  the  shore  showed  me 
also  several  other  and  smaller  cones. 

The  whole  great  plain  is  composed  of  lava  stones,  and  to  one  unfamiliar  with 
the  habits  of  these  islanders  would  seem  to  be  an  absolutely  sterile  desert.  Yet 
here  lived,  not  very  many  years  ago,  a  considerable  population,  who  have  left 
the  marks  of  an  almost  incredible  industry  in  numerous  fields  inclosed  between 
walls  of  lava  rock  well  laid  up;  and  in  what  is  yet  stranger,* long  rows  of 
stones,  like  the  windrows  of  hay  in  a  grass  field  at  home,  evidently  piled  there 
in  order  to  secure  room  in  the  long,  narrow  beds  thus  partly  cleared  of  lava, 
which  lay  between,  to  plant  sweet-potatoes.  As  I  rode  over  the  trails  worn  in 
the  lava  by  the  horses  of  the  old  inhabitants,  I  thought  this  plain  realized  the 
Vermonter's  saying  about  a  piece  of  particularly  stony  ground,  that  there  was 
not  room  in  the  field  to  pile  up  the  rocks  it  contained. 

Yet  on  this  apparently  desert  space,  within  a  quarter  of  a  century  more  than 
a  thousand  people  lived  contentedly  and  prosperously,  after  their  fashion ;  and 
this  though  fresh  water  is  so  scarce  that  many  of  them  must  have  carried 
their  drinking  water  at  least  two  or  even  three  miles.  And  here  now  live, 
among  the  lepers,  or  rather  a  little  apart  from  them  at  one  side  of  the  plain, 
about  a  hundred  people,  the  remnant  of  the  former  population,  who  were  too 
much  attached  to  their  homes  to  leave  them,  and  accepted  sentence  of  perpet- 


THE  LEPER  ASYLUM  ON  MOLOKAL  101 

ual  seclusion  here,  in  common  with  the  lepers,  rather  than  exile  to  a  less  sterile 
part  of  the  island. 

When  we  had  descended  the  cliff,  a  short  ride  brought  us  to  the  house  of  a 
luna,  or  local  overseer,  a  native  who  is  not  a  leper ;  and  of  this  house,  being 
uncontaminated,  we  took  possession. 

By  a  law  of  the  kingdom  it  is  made  the  duty  of  the  Minister  of  the  Interior, 
and  under  him  of  the  Board  of  Health,  to  arrest  every  one  suspected  of  lepro 
sy ;  and  if  a  medical  examination  shows  that  he  has  the  disease,  to  seclude  the 
leper  upon  this  part  of  Molokai. 

Leprosy,  when  it  is  beyond  its  very  earliest  stage,  is  held  to  be  incurable. 
He  who  is  sent  to  Molokai  is  therefore  adjudged  civilly  dead.  His  wife, 
upon  application  to  the  proper  court,  is  granted  a  decree  of  absolute  divorce, 
and  may  marry  again ;  his  estate  is  administered  upon  as  though  he  were  dead. 
He  is  incapable  of  suing  or  being  sued ;  and  his  dealings  with  the  world  there 
after  are  through  and  with  the  Board  of  Health  alone. 

In  order  that  no  doubtful  cases  may  be  sent  to  Molokai  there  is  a  hospital  at 
Kalihi,  near  Honolulu,  where  the  preliminary  examinations  are  made,  and  where 
Dr.  Trousseau,  the  skillful  physician  of  the  Board  of  Health,  son  of  the  famous 
Paris  physician  of  the  same  name,  retains  people  about  whom  he  is  uncertain. 

The  leper  settlement  at  Molokai  was  begun  so  long  ago  as  1865;  but  the 
law  requiring  the  seclusion  of  lepers  was  not  enforced  under  the  late  king,  who 
is  believed  to  have  been  himself  a  sufferer  from  this  disease,  and  who,  at  any 
rate,  by  constantly  granting  exemptions,  discouraged  the  officers  of  the  law. 
Since  the  accession  of  the  present  king,  however,  it  has  been  rigidly  enforced, 
and  it  is  this  which  has  caused  the  sudden  and  great  outcry  about  leprosy, 
which  has  reached  even  to  the  United  States,  and  has  caused  many  people,  it 
seems,  to  fear  to  come  to  the  Islands,  as  though  a  foreigner  would  be  liable  to 
catch  the  disease. 

You  must  understand  that  the  native  people  have  no  fear  of  the  disease. 
Until  the  accession  of  the  present  king  lepers  were  commonly  kept  in  the 
houses  of  their  families,  ate,  drank,  smoked,  and  slept  with  their  own  people, 
and  had  their  wounds  dressed  at  home.  If  the  disease  were  quickly  or  readily 
contagious,  it  must  have  spread  very  rapidly  in  such  conditions ;  and  that  it 
did  not  spread  greatly  or  rapidly  is  one  of  the  best  proofs  that  it  is  not  easily 
transmitted.  When  I  remember  how  commonly,  among  the  native  people,  a 
whole  family  smokes  out  of  the  same  pipe,  and  sleeps  together  under  the  same 
tapa,  I  am  surprised  that  so  few  have  the  disease. 

There  are  at  this  time  eight  hundred  and  four  persons,  lepers,  in  the  settle 
ment,  besides  about  one  hundred  non-lepers,  wrho  prefer  to  remain  there  in  their 
ancient  homes.  Since  January,  1865,  when  the  first  leper  was  sent  here,  one 
thousand  one  hundred  and  eighty  have  been  received,  of  whom  seven  hundred 
and  fifty-eight  were  males  and  four  hundred  and  twenty-two  females.  Of  this 


X<>2:    ^OK^Hl^llY, CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

number  three  hundred  and  seventy-three  have  died,  namely,  two  hundred  and 
forty-six  males  and  one  hundred  and  twenty-seven  females.  Forty-two  died 
between  April  1  and  August  13  of  the  present  year.  The  proportion  of  women 
to  men  is  smaller  than  I  thought ;  and  there  are  about  fifty  leper  children,  be 
tween  the  ages  of  six  and  thirteen.  Lepers  are  sterile,  and  no  children  have 
been  born  at  the  asylum. 

So  great  has  been  the  energy  and  the  vigilance  of  the  Board  of  Health  and 
its  physician,  Dr.  Trousseau,  that  there  are  not  now  probably  fifty  lepers  at 
large  on  all  the  islands,  and  these  are  persons  who  have  been  hidden  away  in 
the  mountains  by  their  relatives.  In  fact  if  there  was  ever  any  risk  to  foreign 
visitors  from  leprosy,  this  is  now  reduced  to  the  minimum ;  and  as  the  disease 
is  not  caused  by  the  climate,  and  can  be  got,  as  the  widest  experience  and  the 
best  authorities  agree,  only  by  intimate  contact,  united  with  peculiar  predis 
position  of  the  blood,  there  is  not  the  least  ground  for  any  foreign  visitor  to 
dread  it. 

When  a  leper  is  sent  to  Molokai,  the  Government  provides  him  a  house,  and 
he  receives,  if  an  adult,  three  pounds  of  paiai  or  unmixed  poi,  per  day,  and 
three  pounds  of  salt  salmon,  or  five  pounds  of  fresh  beef,  per  week.  Beef  is 
generally  preferred. 

They  are  allowed  and  encouraged  to  cultivate  land,  and  their  products  are 
bought  by  the  Health  Board;  but  the  disease  quickly  attacks  the  feet  and 
hands,  and  disables  the  sufferers  from  labor. 

There  are  two  churches  in  the  settlement,  one  Protestant,  with  a  native  pas 
tor,  and  one  Catholic,  with  a  white  priest,  a  young  Frenchman,  who  has  had 
the  courage  to  devote  himself  to  his  co-religionists. 

There  is  a  store,  kept  by  the  Board  of  Health,  the  articles  in  which  are  sold 
for  cost  and  expenses.  The  people  receive  a  good  deal  of  money  from  their 
relatives  at  home,  which  they  spend  in  this  store.  The  Government  also  sup 
plies  all  the  lepers  with  clothing ;  and  there  is  a  post-office.  The  little  schooner 
which  carried  me  back  to  Honolulu  bore  over  two  hundred  letters,  the  weekly 
mail  from  the  leper  settlement. 

For  the  bad  cases  there  is  a  hospital,  an  extensive  range  of  buildings,  where 
one  hundred  patients  lay  when  I  visited  it.  These,  being  helpless,  are  attended 
by  other  lepers,  and  receive  extra  rations  of  tea,  sugar,  bread,  rice,  and  other 
food. 

Almost  every  one  strong  enough  to  ride  has  a  horse ;  for  the  Hawaiians  can 
not  well  live  without  horses.  Some  of  the  people  live  on  the  shore  and  make 
salt,  which  you  see  stored  up  in  pandanus  bags  under  the  shelter  of  lava  bub 
bles.  When  I  was  there  a  number  were  engaged  in  digging  a  ditch  in  which 
to  lay  an  iron  pipe,  intended  to  convey  fresh  water  to  the  denser  part  of  the 
settlement. 

Such  is  the  life  on  the  leper  settlement  of  Molokai ;  a  precipitous  cliff  at  its 


THE  LEPER  ASYLUM  ON  MOLOKAI.  103 

back  two  thousand  feet  high ;  the  ocean,  looking  here  bluer  and  lovelier  than 
ever  I  saw  it  look  elsewhere  on  three  sides  of  it ;  the  soft  trade- wind  blowing 
across  the  lava-covered  plain;  eternal  sunshine;  a  mild  air;  horses;  and  the 
weekly  excitement  of  the  arrival  of  the  schooner  from  Honolulu  with  letters. 
There  is  sufficient  employment  for  those  who  can  and  like  to  work — and  the 
Hawaiian  is  not  an  idle  creature ;  and  altogether  it  is  a  very  contented  and 
happy  community.  The  Islander  has  strong  feelings  and  affections,  but  they 
do  not  last  long,  and  the  people  here  seemed  to  me  to  have  made  themselves 
quickly  at  home.  I  saw  very  few  sad  faces,  and  there  were  mirth  and  laugh 
ter,  and  ready  service  and  pleasant  looks  all  around  us,  as  we  rode  or  walked 
over  the  settlement. 

And  now,  you  will  ask,  what  does  a  leper  look  like  ?  Well,  in  the  first  place, 
he  is  not  the  leper  of  the  Scriptures ;  nor,  I  am  assured,  is  the  disease  at  all 
like  that  which  is  said  to  occur  in  China.  Indeed,  the  poor  Chinese  have  been 
unjustly  accused  oi  bringing  this  disease  to  the  Islands.  With  the  first  ship 
load  of  Chinese  brought  to  these  Islands  came  two  lepers  "  white  as  snow," 
having,  that  is  to  say,  a  disease  very  different  from  that  which  now  is  called 
leprosy  here.  They  were  not  allowed  to  land,  but  were  sent  back  in  the  ship 
which  brought  them  out. 

The  Hawaiian  leprosy,  on  the  other  hand,  has  been  known  here  for  a  quarter 
of  a  century,  and  men  died  of  it  before  the  first  Chinese  were  brought  hither. 
The  name  Mai-Pakeh  was  given  it  by  an  accident,  a  foreigner  saying  to  a 
native  that  he  had  a  disease  such  as  they  had  in  China.  There  are  but  six 
Chinese  in  the  Molokai  leper  settlement,  and  there  are  three  white  men  there. 

The  leprosy  of  the  Islands  is  a  disease  of  the  blood,  and  not  a  skin  disease. 
It  can  be  caught  only,  I  am  told,  by  contact  of  an  abraded  surface  with  the 
matter  of  the  leprous  sore ;  and  doubtless  the  familiar  habit  of  the  people,  of 
many  smoking  the  same  pipe,  has  done  much  to  disseminate  it. 

Its  first  noticeable  signs  are  a  slight  puffiness  under  the  eyes,  and  a  swelling 
of  the  lobes  of  the  ears.  To  the  practiced  eyes  of  Dr.  Trousseau  these  signs 
were  apparent  where  I  could  not  perceive  them  until  he  laid  his  finger  on 
them.  Next  follow  symptoms  which  vary  greatly  in  different  individuals ;  but 
a  marked  sign  is  the  retraction  of  the  fingers,  so  that  the  hand  comes  to  re 
semble  a  bird's  claw.  In  some  cases  the  face  swells  in  ridges,  leaving  deep 
furrows  between;  and  these  ridges  are  shiny  and  without  feeling,  so  that  a 
pin  may  be  stuck  into  one  without  giving  pain  to  the  person.  The  features 
are  thus  horribly  deformed  in  many  instances ;  I  saw  two  or  three  young  boys 
of  twelve  who  looked  like  old  men  of  sixty.  In  some  older  men  and  women, 
the  face  was  at  first  sight  revolting  and  baboon-like ;  I  say  at  first  sight,  for 
on  a  second  look  the  mild  sad  eye  redeemed  the  distorted  features;  it  was  as 
though  the  man  were  looking  out  of  a  horrible  mask. 

At  a  later  stage  of  the  disease  these  rugous  swellings  break  open  into  fester- 


104     NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

ing  sores ;  the  nose  and  even  the  eyes  are  blotted  out,  and  the  body  becomes 
putrid. 

In  other  cases  the  extremities  are  most  severely  attacked.  The  fingers,  after 
being  drawn  in  like  claws,  begin  to  fester.  They  do  not  drop  off,  but  seem 
rather  to  be  absorbed,  the  nails  following  the  stumps  down ;  and  I  actually  saw 
finger-nails  on  a  hand  that  had  no  fingers.  The  nails  were  on  the  knuckles ; 
the  fingers  had  all  rotted  away. 

The  same  process  of  decay  goes  on  with  the  toes ;  in  some  cases  the  whole 
foot  had  dropped  away;  and  in  many  the  hands  and  feet  were  healed  over,  the 
fingers  and  toes  having  first  dropped  off.  But  the  healing  of  the  sore  is  but 
temporary,  for  the  disease  presently  breaks  out  again. 

Emaciation  does  not  seem  to  follow.  I  saw  very  few  wasted  forms,  and 
those  only  in  the  hospitals  and  among  the  worst  cases.  There  appears  to  be 
an  astonishing  tenacity  of  life,  and  I  was  told  they  mostly  choke  to  death,  or 
fall  into  a  fever  caused  by  swallowing  the  poison  of  their  sores  when  these 
attack  the  nose  and  throat. 

Those  diseased  give  out  soon  a  very  sickening  odor,  and  I  was  much  obliged 
to  a  thoughtful  man  in  the  settlement,  who  commanded  the  lepers  who  had 
gathered  together  to  hear  an  address  from,  the  doctor  to  form  to  leeward  of 
us.  I  expected  to  be  sickened  by  the  hospitals;  but  these  are  so  well  kept, 
and  are  so  easily  ventilated  by  the  help  of  the  constantly  blowing  trade-wind, 
that  the  odor  was  scarcely  perceptible  in  them. 

You  will,  perhaps,  ask  how  the  disease  is  contracted.  I  doubt  if  any  one 
knows  definitely.  But  from  all  I  heard,  I  judge  that  there  must  be  some  de 
gree  of  predisposition  toward  it  in  the  person  to  be  contaminated.  I  believe 
I  have  Dr.  Trousseau's  leave  to  say  that  the  contact  of  a  wounded  or  abraded 
surface  with  the  matter  of  a  leprous  sore  will  convey  the  disease ;  this  is,  of 
course,  inoculation ;  and  he  seemed  to  think  no  other  method  of  contamina 
tion  probable.  I  was  careful  to  provide  myself  with  a  pair  of  gloves  when  I 
visited  the  settlement,  to  protect  myself  in  case  I  should  be  invited  to  shake 
hands ;  but  I  noticed  that  the  doctor  fearlessly  shook  hands  with  some  of  the 
worst  cases,  even  where  the  fingers  were  suppurating  and  wrapped  in  rags. 

There  are  several  women  on  the  Islands,  confirmed  lepers,  whose  husbands 
are  at  home  and  sound ;  one,  notably,  where  the  husband  is  a  white  man.  On 
the  other  hand,  a  woman  was  pointed  out  to  me  who  had  had  three  husbands, 
each  of  whom  in  a  short  time  after  marrying  her  became  a  leper.  There  are 
children  lepers,  whose  parents  are  not  lepers;  and  there  are  parents  lepers, 
whose  children  are  at  home  and  healthy. 

There  are  three  white  men  on  the  island,  lepers,  t\vo  of  them  in  a  very  bad 
state.  So  far  as  I  could  learn  the  particulars  of  their  previous  history,  they 
had  lived  flagitiously  loose  lives ;  such  as  must  have  corrupted  their  blood  long 
before  they  became  lepers.  In  some  other  cases  of  native  lepers  I  came  upon 


THE  LEPER  ASYLUM  ON  MOLOKAI.  105 

similar  histories ;  and  while  I  do  not  believe  that  every  case,  or  indeed  perhaps 
a  majority  of  cases,  involves  such  a  previous  career  of  vice,  I  should  say  that 
this  is  certainly  a  strongly  predisposing  cause. 

As  to  the  danger  of  infection  to  a  foreign  visitor,  there  is  absolutely  none, 
unless  he  should  undertake  to  live  in  native  fashion  among  the  natives,  smok 
ing  out  of  their  pipes,  sleeping  under  their  tapas,  and  eating  their  food  with 
them ;  and  even  in  such  an  extreme  case  his  risk  would  be  very  slight  now, 
so  thoroughly  has  the  disease  been  "  stamped  out "  by  the  energetic  action  of 
Mr.  Hall,  the  Minister  of  the  Interior,  Mr.  Samuel  G.  Wilder,  the  head  of  the 
Board  of  Health,  and  Dr.  Trousseau,  its  physician.  In  short,  there  is  no  more 
risk  of  a  white  resident  or  traveler  catching  leprosy  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands 
than  in  the  city  or  State  of  New  York. 

I  have  heard  one  reason  given  why  this  disease  has  been  more  frequent  in 
the  last  ten  years.  Ten  or  twelve  years  ago  the  Islands  were  visited  by  small 
pox.  This  disease  made  terrible  ravages,  and  the  Government  at  once  ordered 


NATIVE   PIPE.  NECKLACE   OF   HUMAN   UAIB. 


the  people  to  be  vaccinated.  There  seems  to  be  no  doubt  that  the  vaccine 
matter  used  was  often  taken  from  persons  not  previously  in  sound  health; 
this  was  perhaps  unavoidable ;  but  intelligent  men,  long  resident  in  the  Islands, 
believe  that  vaccination  thus  performed  with  impure  matter  had  a  bad  effect 
upon  the  people,  leaving  traces  of  a  resulting  corruption  of  their  blood. 

The  choice  of  the  plain  of  Kalawao  as  the  spot  on  which  to  seclude  the  lepers 
from  all  the  Islands  was  very  happy.  It  can  not  be  said  that  to  an  agile  native 
the  place  is  inaccessible,  for  there  are,  no  doubt,  several  points  in  the  great 
precipice  where  men  and  women  could  make  their  way  down  or  up ;  and  there 
are  instances  of  women  swimming  around  the  precipitous  and  surf-beaten  shore, 
seven  or  eight  miles,  to  reach  husbands  or  friends  in  the  settlement  to  whom 
they  were  devotedly  attached.  But  it  is  easily  guarded,  and,  for  all  practical 
purposes,  the  seclusion  is  perfect. 

A  singular  tradition,  related  to  me  on  the  island,  points  to  its  use  for  such  a 
purpose,  and  gives  a  sad  significance  to  the  leper  settlement.  It  is  said  that  in 


106    NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

the  time  of  the  first  Kamehameha,  the  conqueror  and  hero  of  his  race,  upon  an 
occasion  when  he  visited  Molokai,  an  old  sorceress  or  priestess  sent  him  word 
that  she  had  made  a  garment  for  him — a  robe  of  honor — which  she  desired  him 
to  come  and  get.  He  returned  for  answer  a  command  that  she  should  bring  it 
to  him ;  and  when  the  old  hag  appeared,  the  king  desired  her  to  tell  him  some 
thing  of  the  future.  She  replied  that  he  would  conquer  all  the  Islands,  and 
rule  over  them  but  a  brief  time;  that  his  own  posterity  would  die  out;  and 
that  finally  all  his  race  would  be  gathered  together  on  Molokai ;  and  that  this 
small  island  would  be  large  enough  to  hold  them  all. 

It  is  probable,  of  course,  that  this  tale  is  of  recent  origin,  and  that  no  priest 
ess  of  Kamehameha  the  First  possessed  so  fatal  and  accurate  a  gift  of  prophecy ; 
but  the  tale,  told  me  in  the  midst  of  the  leper  asylum,  pointed  to  the  gloomy 
end  of  the  race  with  but  too  plain  a  finger.  The  Hawaiians,  once  so  numerous 
as  to  occupy  almost  all  the  habitable  parts  of  all  the  Islands,  have  so  greatly 
decreased  that  they  might  almost  find  their  support  on  the  little  island  of  Mo 
lokai  alone.  Happily  the  decrease  has  now  ceased. 

The  great  Pali  of  Molokai,  one  of  the  most  remarkable  and  picturesque 
sights  of  the  Islands,  stretches  for  a  dozen  miles  along  its  windward  coast.  It 
is  a  sheer  precipice,  in  most  parts  from  a  thousand  to  two  thousand  feet  high, 
washed  by  the  sea  at  its  base,  and  having,  in  most  parts,  not  a  trace  of  beach. 
This  vast  wall  of  rock  is  an  impressive  sight ;  here  the  shipwrecked  mariner 
would  be  utterly  helpless ;  but  would  drown,  not  merely  in  sight  of  land,  but 
with  his  hands  vainly  grasping  for  even  a  bush,  or  root,  or  a  projecting  rock. 


NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA: 

ITS  AGRICULTURAL  VALLEYS,  DAIRIES,  FORESTS, 
FRUIT-FARMS,  ETC. 


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NOKTIIKUN    OM.IKORNIA. 


THE  SACRAMENTO  VALLEY. 


109 


A  OALIFOENIA  VINEYAED. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  SACRAMENTO  VALLEY :   A  GENERAL  VIEW,  WITH  HINTS  TO  TOURISTS 

AND  SPORTSMEN. 

f  I  ^HE  State  of  California  extends  over  somewhat  more  than  ten  degrees  of 
-*-  latitude.  If  it  lay  along  the  Atlantic  as  it  lies  along  the  Pacific  coast,  its 
boundaries  would  include  the  whole  shore-line  from  Cape  Cod  to  Hilton  Head, 
and  its  limits  would  take  in  the  greater  portion  of  ten  of  the  original  States. 

It  contains  two  great  mountain  ranges — the  Sierra  Nevada  and  the  Coast 
Range.  These,  running  parallel  through  the  State,  approach  each  other  so 
closely  at  the  south  as  to  leave  only  the  narrow  Tejon  Pass  between  them ; 
while  at  the  north  they  also  come  together,  Mount  Shasta  rearing  its  splendid 
snow-covered  summit  over  the  two  mountain  chains  where  they  are  joined. 

Inclosed  within  these  mountain  ranges  lies  a  long,  broad,  fertile  valley,  which 
was  once,  no  doubt,  a  great  inland  sea.  It  still  contains  in  the  southern  part 
three  considerable  lakes  —  the  Tulare,  Kern,  and  Buena  Vista — and  is  now 
drained  from  the  south  by  the  San  Joaquin  River,  flowing  out  of  these  lakes, 
and  from  the  north  by  the  Sacramento,  which  rises  near  the  base  of  Mount 
Shasta.  These  two  rivers,  the  one  flowing  north,  the  other  south,  join  a  few 


110     NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

miles  below  Sacramento,  and  empty  their  waters  into  the  bay  of  San  Fran 
cisco. 

That  part  of  the  great  inland  plain  of  California  which  is  drained  by  the 
Sacramento  is  called  after  its  river.  It  is  more  thickly  inhabited  than  the 
southern  or  San  Joaquin  Valley,  partly  because  the  foot-hills  on  its  eastern 
side  were  the  scene  of  the  earliest  and  longest  continued,  as  well  as  the  most 
successful,  mining  operations ;  partly  because  the  Sacramento  River  is  naviga 
ble  for  a  longer  distance  than  the  San  Joaquin,  and  thus  gave  facilities  for 
transportation  which  the  lower  valley  had  not ;  and,  finally,  because  the  Sacra 
mento  Valley  had  a  railroad  completed  through  its  whole  extent  some  years 
earlier  than  the  San  Joaquin  Valley. 

The  climate  of  the  Sacramento  Valley  does  not  differ  greatly  from  that  of 
the  San  Joaquin,  yet  there  are  some  important  distinctions.  Lying  further 
north,  it  has  more  rain ;  in  the  upper  part  of  the  valley  they  sometimes  see 
snow ;  there  is  not  the  same  necessity  for  irrigation  as  in  the  lower  valley ;  and 
though  oranges  flourish  in  Marysville,  and  though  the  almond  does  well  as  far 
north  as  Chico,  yet  the  cherry  and  the  plum  take  the  place  of  the  orange  and 
lemon ;  and  men  build  their  houses  somewhat  more  solidly  than  further  south. 

The  romance  of  the  early  gold  discovery  lies  mostly  in  the  Sacramento  Val 
ley  and  the  adjacent  foot-hills.  Between  Sacramento  and  Marysville  lay  Sut- 
ter's  old  fort,  and  near  Marysville  is  Sutter's  farm,  where  you  may  still  see  his 
groves  of  fig-trees,  under  whose  shade  the  country  people  now  hold  their  pic 
nics;  his  orchards,  which  still  bear  fruit;  and  his  house,  which  is  now  a 
country  tavern. 

Of  all  his  many  leagues  of  land  the  old  man  has,  I  believe,  but  a  few  acres 
left ;  and  of  the  thousands  who  now  inhabit  and  own  what  once  was  his,  not  a 
dozen  would  recognize  him,  and  many  probably  scarcely  know  his  name.  His 
riches  melted  away,  as  did  those  of  the  great  Spanish  proprietors ;  and  he  who 
only  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago  owned  a  territory  larger  than  some  States,  and 
counted  his  cattle  by  the  thousands — if,  indeed,  he  ever  counted  them — who 
lived  in  a  fort  like  a  European  noble  of  the  feudal  times,  had  an  army  of  In 
dians  at  his  command,  and  occasionally  made  war  on  the  predatory  tribes  who 
were  his  neighbors,  now  lives  upon  a  small  annuity  granted  him  by  the  State 
of  California.  He  saved  little,  I  have  heard,  from  the  wreck  of  his  fortunes ; 
and  of  all  who  were  with  him  in  his  earlier  days,  but  one,  so  far  as  I  know — 
General  Bid  well,  of  Chico,  an  able  and  honorable  gentleman,  once  Slitter's 
manager — had  the  ability  to  provide  for  the  future  by  retaining  possession  of 
his  own  estate  of  twenty  thousand  acres,  now  by  general  consent  the  finest 
farm  in  California. 

As  you  go  north  in  California  the  amount  of  rain-fall  increases.  In  San 
Diego  County  they  are  happy  with  ten  inches  per  annum,  and  fortunate  if 
they  get  five ;  in  Santa  Barbara,  twelve  and  a  half  inches  insure  their  crops ; 


THE  SACRAMENTO  VALLEY. 


Ill 


the  Sacramento  Valley  has  an  average  rain-fall  of  about  twenty  inches,  and 
eighteen  inches  insure  them  a  full  crop  on  soil  properly  prepared.  In  1873 
they  had  less,  yet  the  crops  did  well  wherever  the  farmers  had  summer- 
fallowed  the  land.  This  practice  is  now  very  general,  and  is  necessary,  in 
order  that  the  grain  may  have  the  advantage  of  the  early  rains.  When  a 
farmer  plows  and  prepares  his  land  in  the  spring,  lets  it  lie  all  summer,  and 
sows  his  grain  in  November  just  as  the  earliest  rain  begins,  he  need  not  fear 
for  his  crop. 

There  is  less  difference  in  climate  than  one  would  suppose  between  the 
Sacramento  and  the  San  Joaquin  valleys.  Cattle  and  sheep  live  out-of-doors, 
and  support  themselves  all  the  year  round  in  the  Shasta  Valley  on  the  north  as 
constantly  as  in  Los  Angelos  or  any  other  of  the  southern  counties.  The 
seasons  are  a  little  later  north  than  south,  but  the  difference  is  slight;  and  as 


WINE   VATS. 


far  north  as  Red  Bluff,  in  the  interior,  they  begin  their  harvest  earlier  than  in 
Monterey  County,  far  south  but  on  the  coast.  Snow  rarely  lies  on  the  ground 
in  the  northern  counties  more  than  a  day.  The  best  varieties  of  the  foreign 
grapes  are  hardy  everywhere.  Light  frosts  come  in  December;  and  in  the 
flower-gardens  the  geranium  withers  to  the  ground,  but  springs  up  from  the 
roots  again  in  March.  The  eucalyptus  flourishes  wherever  it  has  been  planted 
in  Northern  California ;  and  as  far  north  as  Redding,  at  the  head  of  the  valley, 
the  mercury  very  rarely  falls  below  twenty-five  degrees,  and  remains  there  but 
a  few  hours. 

As  you  travel  from  Marysville,  either  northward  or  southward,  you  will  see 
before  and  around  you  a  great  wide  plain,  bounded  on  the  west  by  the  blue  out 
lines  of  the  Coast  Range,  and  on  the  east  by  the  foot-hills  of  the  Sierra:  a  great 
level,  over  which  as  far  as  your  eye  can  reach  are  scattered  groves  of  grand 
and  picturesque  white  oaks,  which  relieve  the  solitude  of  the  plain,  and  make 


112    NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

it  resemble  a  well-planted  park.  Wherever  the  valley  is  settled,  you  will  see 
neat  board  fences,  roomy  barns,  and  farm-houses  nestling  among  trees,  and 
flanked  by  young  orchards.  You  will  not  find  a  great  variety  of  crops,  for 
wheat  and  barley  are  the  staple  products  of  this  valley  ;  and  though  the  farms 
here  are  in  general  of  640  acres  or  less,  there  are  not  wanting  some  of  those 
immense  estates  for  which  California  is  famous;  and  a  single  farmer  in  this 
valley  is  said  to  have  raised  on  his  own  land  last  year  one-twentieth  of  the  en 
tire  wheat  crop  of  the  State. 

Northwest  of  Marysville  the  plain  is  broken  by  a  singularly  lovely  range  of 
mountains,  the  Buttes.  They  rise  abruptly  from  the  plain,  and  their  peaks 
reach  from  two  to  three  thousand  feet  high.  It  is  an  extremely  pretty  min 
iature  mountain  range,  having  its  peaks,  passes,  and  canons — all  the  features  of 
the  Sierra — and  it  is  well  worth  a  visit.  Butte  is  a  word  applied  to  such  iso 
lated  mountains,  which  do  not  form  part  of  a  chain,  and  which  are  not  uncom 
mon  west  of  the  Mississippi.  Shasta  is  called  a  butte;  Lassen's  Peaks  are 
buttes;  and  the  traveler  across  the  continent  hears  the  word  frequently  ap 
plied  to  mountain.  It  is  pronounced  with  the  u  long. 

Along  the  banks  of  the  Sacramento  there  are  large  quantities  of  land  which 
is  annually  overflowed  by  the  river,  and  much  of  which  is  still  only  used  for 
pasturage  during  the  dry  season,  when  its  grasses  support  large  herds  of  cattle 
and  sheep,  which  are  driven  to  the  uplands  when  the  rains  begin  'to  fall.  But 
much  of  this  swamp  and  tule  land  has  been  drained  and  diked,  and  is  now 
used  for  farm  land.  It  produces  heavy  crops  of  wheat,  and  its  reclamation 
has  been,  and  continues  to  be,  one  of  the  successful  speculations  in  land  in  this 
State.  It  will  not  be  long  before  the  shores  of  the  Sacramento  and  its  tribu 
taries  will  be  for  many  miles  so  diked  that  these  rivers  will  never  break 
their  bounds,  and  thus  a  very  considerable  area  will  be  added  to  the  fertile 
farming  lands  of  the  State. 

Already,  however,  the  Yuba,  the  Feather,  and  the  American  rivers,  tributaries 
of  the  Sacramento,  have  been  leveed  at  different  points  for  quite  another  rea 
son.  These  rivers,  once  clear  and  rapidly  flowing  within  deep  banks,  are  now 
turbid,  in  many  places  shallow,  and  their  bottoms  have  been  raised  from  twen 
ty  to  thirty  feet  by  the  accumulation  of  the  washings  from  the  gold  mines  in 
the  foot-hills.  It  is  almost  incredible  the  change  the  miners  have  thus  pro 
duced  in  the  short  space  of  a  quarter  of  a  century.  The  bed  of  the  Yuba  has 
been  raised  thirty  feet  in  that  time;  and  seeing  what  but  a  handful  of  men 
have  effected  in  so  short  a  period,  the  work  of  water  in  the  denudation  of 
mountains,  and  the  scouring  out  or  filling  up  of  valleys  during  geological 
periods  becomes  easily  comprehensible. 

All  our  Northern  fruits  grow  thriftily  in  the  Sacramento  Valley,  and  also 
the  almond,  of  which  thousands  of  trees  have  been  planted,  and  a  few  consid 
erable  orchards  are  already  in  bearing.  The  cherry  and  the  plum  do  remarkably 


THE  SACRAMENTO  VALLEY.  113 

well,  the  latter  fruit  having  as  yet  no  curculio  or  blight;  and  the  canning 
and  drying  of  peaches,  plums,  apricots,  nectarines,  and  pears  are  already,  as  I 
shall  show  in  detail  farther  on,  a  considerable  as  well  as  very  profitable  busi 
ness.  Dried  plums,  in  particular,  sell  at  a  price  which 
makes  the  orchards  of  this  fruit  very  valuable.  Excel 
lent  raisins  have  also  been  made,  and  they  sell  in  the 
open  market  of  San  Francisco  for  a  price  very  little  less 
than  that  of  the  best  Malaga  raisins.  The  climate,  with 
its  long  dry  summer,  is  very  favorable  to  the  drying  and 
curing  of  every  fruit :  no  expensive  houses,  no  ovens  or 
other  machinery,  are  needed.  The  day  is  not  distant 
when  the  great  Sacramento  plain  will  be  a  vast  orchard, 
and  the  now  unoccupied  foot-hills  will  furnish  a  large 
part  of  the  raisins  consumed  in  the  United  States.  For  the  present  the  popu 
lation  is  scant,  and  cattle,  horses,  and  especially  sheep,  roam  over  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  acres  of  soil  which  needs  only  industrious  farmers  to  make  it 
bloom  into  a  garden. 

The  farmer  in  this  State  is  a  person  of  uncommon  resources  and  ingenuity. 
I  think  he  uses  his  brains  more  than  our  Eastern  farmers.  I  do  not  mean  to 
say  that  he  lives  better,  for  he  does  not.  His  house  is  often  shabby,  even 
though  he  be  a  man  of  wealth,  and  his  table  is  not  unf  requently  without  milk ; 
he  buys  his  butter  with  his  canned  vegetables  in  San  Francisco,  and  bread  and 
mutton  are  the  chief  part  of  his  living,  both  being  universally  good  here.  But 
in  managing  his  land  he  displays  great  enterprise,  and  has  learned  how  to  fit 
his  efforts  to  the  climate  and  soil. 

The  gathering  of  the  wheat  crop  goes  on  in  all  the  valley  lands  with  head 
ers,  and  you  will  find  on  all  the  farms  in  the  Sacramento  Valley  the  best  labor- 
saving  machinery  employed,  and  human  labor,  which  is  always  the  most  costly, 
put  to  its  best  and  most  profitable  uses.  They  talk  here  of  steam-plows  and 
steam-wagons  for  common  roads,  and  I  have  no  doubt  the  steam-plow  will  be 
first  practically  and  generally  used,  so  far  as  the  United  States  are  concerned, 
in  these  Californian  valleys,  where  I  have  seen  furrows  two  miles  long,  and  ten 
eight-horse  teams  following  each  other  with  gang-plows. 

Withal,  they  are  somewhat  ruthless  in  their  pursuit  of  a  wheat  crop.  You 
may  see  a  farmer  who  plows  hundreds  of  acres,  but  he  will  have  his  wheat 
growing  up  to  the  edge  of  his  veranda.  If  he  keeps  a  vegetable  garden,  he 
has  performed  a  heroic  act  of  self-denial ;  and  as  for  flowers,  they  must  grow 
among  the  wheat  or  nowhere. 

Moreover,  while  he  has  great  ingenuity  in  his  methods,  the  farmer  of  the 
Sacramento  plain  has  but  little  originality  in  his  planting.  He  raises  wheat 
and  barley.  He  might  raise  a  dozen,  a  score,  of  other  products,  many  more 

profitable,  and  all  obliging  him  to  cultivate  less  ground,  but  it  is  only  here  and 

8 


114    NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

there  you  meet  with  one  who  appreciates  the  remarkable  capabilities  of  the 
soil  and  climate.  Near  Tehama  some  Chinese  have  in  the  last  two  years 
grown  large  crops  of  pea-nuts,  and  have,  I  was  told,  realized  handsome  profits 
from  a  nut  which  will  be  popular  in  America,  I  suppose,  as  long  as  there  is  a 
pit  or  a  gallery  in  a  theatre ;  but  the  pea-nut  makes  a  valuable  oil,  and  as  it 
produces  enormously  here,  it  will  some  day  be  raised  for  this  use,  as  much  as 
for  the  benefit  of  the  old  women  who  keep  fruit-stands  on  the  street  corners. 
It  would  not  be  surprising  if  the  Chinese,  who  continue  to  come  over  to  Cali 
fornia  in  great  numbers,  should  yet  show  the  farmers  here  what  can  be  done 
on  small  farms  by  patient  and  thorough  culture.  As  yet  they  confine  their 
culture  of  land  mainly  to  vegetable  gardens. 

To  the  farmer  the  valley  and  foot-hill  lands  of  the  Sacramento  will  be  the 
most  attractive ;  and  there  are  still  here  thousands  of  acres  in  the  hands  of  the 
Government  and  the  railroad  company  to  be  obtained  so  cheaply  that,  whether 
for  crops  or  for  grazing,  it  will  be  some  time  before  the  mountainous  lands 
and  the  pretty  valleys  they  contain,  north  of  Redding,  the  present  terminus  of 
the  railroad,  will  attract  settlers.  But  for  the  traveler  the  region  north  of 
Redding  to  the  State  line  offers  uncommon  attractions. 

The  Sacramento  Valley  closes  in  as  you  journey  northward;  and  at  Red 
Bluff,  which  is  the  head  of  navigation  on  the  river,  you  have  a  magnificent 
view  of  Lassen's  Peaks  on  the  east— twin  peaks,  snow-clad,  and  rising  high  out 
of  the  plain — and  also  of  the  majestic  snow-covered  crag  which  is  known  as 
Shasta  Butte,  which  towers  high  above  the  mountains  to  the  north,  and,  though 
here  120  miles  off,  looks  but  a  day's  ride  away. 

Redding,  thirty  miles  north  from  Shasta,  lies  at  the  head  of  the  Sacramento 
Valley.  From  there  a  line  of  stage-coaches  proceeds  north  into  Oregon,  through 
the  mass  of  mountains  which  separates  the  Sacramento  Valley  in  California 
from  the  Willamette  Valley  in  Oregon.  The  stage-road  passes  through  a  very 
varied  and  picturesque  country,  one  which  few  pleasure  travelers  see,  and  which 
yet  is  as  well  worth  a  visit  as  any  part  of  the  western  coast.  The  Sacramento 
River,  which  rises  in  a  large  spring  near  the  base  of  Mount  Shasta,  has  worn 
its  way  through  the  high  mountains,  and  rushes  down  for  nearly  a  hundred  miles 
of  its  course  an  impetuous,  roaring  mountain  stream,  abounding  in  trout  at 
all  seasons,  and  in  June,  July,  and  August  filled  with  salmon  which  have  come 
up  here  through  the  Golden  Gates  from  the  ocean  to  spawn.  The  stage-road 
follows  almost  to  its  source  the  devious  course  of  the  river,  and  you  ride  along 
sometimes  nearly  on  a  level  with  the  stream,  and  again  on  a  road-bed  cut  out 
of  the  steep  mountain  side  a  thousand  or  fifteen  hundred  feet  above  the  river ; 
through  fine  forests  of  sugar-pines  and  yellow  pines  many  of  which  come  al 
most  up  to  the  dimensions  of  the  great  sequoias. 

The  river  and  its  upper  tributaries  abound  in  trout,  and  this  region  is  fa 
mous  among  Californian  sportsmen  for  deer  and  fish.  Many  farm-houses  along 


THE  SACRAMENTO  VALLEY.  115 

the  road  accommodate  travelers  who  desire  to  stay  to  enjoy  the  fine  scenery, 
and  to  hunt  and  fish ;  and  a  notable  stopping-place  is  Fry's  Soda  Spring,  four 
teen  hours  by  stage  from  Redding,  kept  by  Isaac  Fry  and  his  excellent  wife — 
a  clean,  comfortable  little  mountain  inn,  where  you  get  good  and  well-cooked 
food,  and  where  you  will  find  what  your  stage  ride  will  make  welcome  to  you 
— a  comfortable  bath.  The  river  is  too  cold  for  bathing  here  in  the  mountains 
because  of  the  snow-water  of  which  it  is  composed.  About  ten  miles  south  of 
Fry's  lies  Castle  Rock,  a  remarkable  and  most  picturesque  mountain  of  white 
granite,  bare  for  a  thousand  feet  below  its  pinnacled  summit,  which  you  see  as 
you  drive  past  it  on  the  stage. 

Fry's  lies  in  a  deep  caiion,  with  a  singular,  almost  precipitous,  mountain  op 
posite  the  house,  which  terminates  in  a  sharp  ridge  at  the  top,  one  of  those 
"  knife-edge  "  ridges  of  which  Professor  Whitney  and  Clarence  King  often 
speak  in  their  descriptions  of  Sierra  scenery.  If  you  are  a  mountain  climber, 
you  have  here  an  opportunity  for  an  adventure,  and  an  excellent  guide  in  Mr. 


A   BOTTLIXG-OE 


Fry,  who  told  me  that  this  ridge  is  sharp  enough  to  straddle,  and  that  on  the 
other  side  is  an  almost  precipitous  descent,  with  a  fine  lake  in  the  distance.  If 
you  wish  to  hunt  deer  or  bear,  you  will  find  in  Fry  an  expert  and  experienced 
hunter.  He  has  a  tame  doe,  which,  I  was  told,  is  better  than  a  dog  to  mark 
game  on  a  hunt,  its  sharp  ears  and  nose  detecting  the  presence  of  game  at  a 
great  distance.  If  you  are  a  fisherman,  there  are  within  three  minutes'  walk 
of  the  house  pools  abounding  in  trout,  and  you  may  fish  up  and  down  the  river 
as  far  as  you  please,  with  good  success  everywhere.  In  June  and  July,  when 
the  salmon  come  up  to  spawn,  they,  too,  lie  in  the  deepest  pools,  and  with 
salmon  eggs  for  bait  you  may,  if  you  are  expert  enough  with  your  rod,  take 
many  a  fat  salmon. 

It  is  astonishing  to  see  how  the  salmon  crowd  the  river  at  the  spawning 
season.  The  Indians  then  gather  from  a  considerable  distance,  to  spear  and 
trap  these  fish,  which  they  dry  for  winter  use;  and  you  will  see  at  this  season 
many  picturesque  Indian  camps  along  the  river.  They  set  a  crotch  of  two 


116     NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

sticks  in  a  salmon  pool,  and  lay  a  log  from  the  shore  to  this  crotch.  Upon 
this  log  the  Indian  walks  out,  with  a  very  long  spear,  two-pronged  at  the  end 
and  there  armed  with  two  bone  spear-heads,  which  are  fastened  to  the  shaft  of 
the  spear  by  very  strong  cord,  usually  made  of  deer's  sinews.  The  Indian 
stands  very  erect  and  in  a  really  fine. attitude,  and  peers  into  the  black  pool 
until  his  eye  catches  the  silver  sheen  of  a  salmon.  Then  he  darts,  and  instant 
ly  you  see  a  commotion  in  the  water  as  he  hauls  up  toward  the  surface  a  strug 
gling  twenty-five  or  thirty  pound  fish.  The  bone  spear  heads,  when  they  have 
penetrated  the  salmon,  come  off  from  the  spear,  and  the  fish  is  held  by  the 
cord.  A  squaw  stands  ready  on  the  shore  to  haul  him  in,  and  he  is  beaten 
over  the  head  with  a  club  until  he  ceases  to  struggle,  then  cleaned,  and  roasted 
on  hot  stones.  When  the  meat  is  done  and  dry  it  is  picked  off  the  bones,  and 
the  squaws  rub  it  to  a  fine  powder  between  their  hands,  and  in  this  shape  it 
is  packed  for  future  use. 

From  one  of  these  pools  a  dozen  Indian  spearmen  frequently  draw  out  four 
hundred  salmon  in  a  day,  and  this  fish  forms  an  important  part  of  their  food. 
Of  course  they  kill  a  great  many  thousand  female  salmon  during  the  season; 
but  so  far,  I  believe,  this  murderous  work  has  not  been  found  to  decrease  the 
number  of  the  fish  which  annually  enter  the  river  from  the  ocean,  and  go  up 
to  its  head  waters  to  spawn. 

If  you  visit  this  region  during  the  last  of  June  or  in  July,  you  may  watch 
the  salmon  spawning,  a  most  curious  and  remarkable  sight.  The  great  fish 
then  leave  the  deep  pools  in  which  they  have  been  quietly  lying  for  some 
weeks  before,  and  fearlessly  run  up  on  the  shallow  ripples.  Here,  animated  by 
a  kind  of  fury,  they  beat  the  sand  off  the  shoals  with  their  tails,  until  often  a 
female  salmon  thus  labors  till  her  tail  fins  are  entirely  worn  off.  She  then 
deposits  her  eggs  upon  the  coarse  gravel,  and  the  greedy  trout,  which  are  ex 
travagantly  fond  of  salmon  eggs,  rush  up  to  eat  them  as  the  poor  mother  lays 
them.  They  are,  I  believe,  watched  and  beaten  off  by  the  male  salmon,  which 
accompanies  the  female  for  this  purpose.  When  the  female  salmon  has  de 
posited  her  eggs,  and  the  male  salmon  has  done  his  part  of  the  work,  the  two 
often  bring  stones  of  considerable  size  in  their  mouths  to  cover  up  the  eggs 
and  protect  them  from  the  predatory  attacks  of  the  trout. 

And  thereupon,  according  to  the  universal  testimony  of  the  fishermen  of 
these  waters,  the  salmon  dies.  I  was  assured  that  the  dead  bodies  often  cum 
ber  the  shore  after  the  spawning  season  is  over ;  and  the  mountaineers  all  as 
sert  that  the  salmon,  having  once  spawned  up  here,  does  not  go  down  to  the 
ocean  again.  They  hold  that  the  young  salmon  stay  in  the  upper  waters  for 
a  year,  and  go  to  sea  about  eighteen  months  after  hatching ;  and  it  is  not 
uncommon,  I  believe,  for  fishermen  hereabouts  to  catch  grilse  weighing  from 
two  to  four  pounds.  These  bite  sometimes  at  the  fly.  The  salmon  bite,  too, 
when  much  smaller,  for  I  caught  one  day  a  young  salmon  not  more  than  six 


THE  SACRAMENTO  VALLEY.  H7 

inches  long.  This  little  fellow  was  taken  with  a  bait  of  salmon  eggs,  and  his 
bright  silvery  sides  made  him  quite  different  from  the  trout  which  I  was  catch 
ing*  out  of  the  same  pool.  His,  head,  also  had  something  of  the  fierce,  preda 
tory,  hawk-like  form  which  the  older  salmon's  has. 

Fry  is  an  excellent  fisherman  himself,  and  knows  all  the  best  pools  within 
reach  of  his  house,  and,  if  you  are  a  mountaineer,  will  take  you  a  dozen  miles 
through  the  woods  to  other  streams,  where  you  may  fish  and  hunt  for  days  or 
weeks  with  great  success,  for  these  woods  and  waters  are  as  yet  visited  by  but 
few  sportsmen. 

And  if  you  happen  to  come  upon  Indian  fishermen  on  your  way — they  are 
all  peaceful  hereabouts — you  may  get  the  noble  red  man's  opinion  of  the  great 
Woman  Question.  As  I  stood  at  the  road-side  one  day  I  saw  an  Indian  emer 
ging  from  the  woods,  carrying  his  rifle  and  his  pipe.  Him  followed,  at  a  re 
spectful  distance,  his  squaw,  a  little  woman  not  bigger  than  a  twelve-year-old 
boy ;  and  she  carried,  first,  a  baby ;  second,  three  salmon,  each  of  which  weigh 
ed  not  less  than  twenty  pounds ;  third,  a  wild  goose,  weighing  six  or  eight 
pounds';  finally,  a  huge  bundle  of  some  kind  of  greens.  This  cumbrous  and 
heavy  load  the  Indian  had  lashed  together  with  strong  thongs,  and  the  squaw 
carried  it  on  her  back,  suspended  by  a  strap  which  passed  across  her  forehead. 

When  an  Indian  kills  a  deer  he  loads  it  on  the  back  of  his  squaw  to  carry 
home.  Arrived  there,  he  lights  his  pipe,  and  she  skins  and  cleans  the  animal, 
cuts  off  a  piece  sufficient  for  dinner,  lights  a  fire,  and  cooks  the  meat.  This 
done,  the  noble  red  man,  who  has  calmly  or  impatiently  contemplated  these 
labors  of  the  wife  of  his  bosom,  lays  down  his  pipe  and  eats  his  dinner.  When 
he  is  done,  the  woman,  who  has  waited  at  one  side,  sits  down  to  hers  and  eats 
what  he  has  left. 

"  Who  would  be  free,  themselves  must  strike  the  blow."  Miss  Anthony  and 
Mrs.  Cady  Stanton  have  good  missionary  ground  among  these  Indians.  One 
wonders  in  what  language  an  Indian  brave  courts  the  young  squaw  whom  he 
wishes  to  marry ;  what  promises  he  makes  her ;  what  hopes  he  holds  out ;  with 
what  enticing  views  of  wedded  bliss  he  lures  the  Indian  maiden  to  the  altar 
or  whatever  may  be  the  Digger  substitute  for  that  piece  of  church  furniture. 
One  wonders  that  the  squaws  have  not  long  ago  combined  and  struck  for  at 
least  moderately  decent  treatment;  that  marriages  have  not  ceased  among 
them ;  that  there  has  not  arisen  among  the  Diggers,  the  Pit  River  Indians,  and 
all  the  Indian  tribes,  some  woman  capable  of  leading  her  sex  in  a  rebellion. 

But,  to  tell  the  truth,  the  Indian  women  are  homely  to  the  last  degree. 
"  Ugly,"  said  an  Oregonian  to  me,  as  we  contemplated  a  company  of  squaws — 
•'  ugly  is  too  mild  a  word  to  apply  to  such  faces ;"  and  he  was  right.  Broad- 
faced,  flat-nosed,  small-eyed,  unkempt,  frowzy,  undersized,  thickset,  clumsy,  they 
have  not  a  trace  of  beauty  about  them,  either  young  or  old.  They  are  just  use 
ful,  nothing  more ;  and  as  you  look  at  them  and  at  the  burdens  they  bear,  you 


118    NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

wonder  whether,  when  the  Woman's  Rights  movement  has  succeeded,  and  when 
women,  dressed  like  frights  in  such  Bloomer  costume  as  may  then  be  prescribed, 
go  out  to  their  daily  toil  like  men,  and  on  an  equality  with  men — when  they 
have  cast  off  the  beauty  which  is  so  scornfully  spoken  of  in  the  conventions, 
and  have  secured  their  rights — whether  they  will  be  any  better  off  than  these 
squaws.  When  you  have  thoughtfully  regarded  the  Indian  woman  perhaps 


INDIAN    KANCHEKL.V. 


you  will  agree  with  Gail  Hamilton  that  it  is  woman's  first  duty  to  be  useless ; 
for  it  is  plain  that  here,  as  in  a  higher  civilization,  when  women  consent  to 
work  as  men,  they  are  sure  to  have  the  hardest  work  and  the  poorest  pay. 

As  you  ascend  the  Sacramento  you  near  Mount  Shasta,  and  when  you  reach 
Strawberry  Valley,  a  pretty  little  mountain  vale,  you  are  but  a  short  ride  from 
its  base.  It  is  from  this  point  that  tourists  ascend  the  mountain.  You  can 


THE  SACRAMENTO  VALLEY.  119 

hire  horses,  guides,  and  a  camp  outfit  here,  and  the  adventure  requires  three 
days.  You  ride  up  to  the  snow-line  the  first  day,  ascend  to  the  top  the  follow 
ing  morning,  descend  to  your  camp  in  the  afternoon,  and  return  to  the  valley 
on  the  third  day.  Mount  Shasta  has  a  glacier,  almost,  but  not  quite,  the  only 
one,  I  believe,  within  the  limits  of  the  United  States.  The  mountain  is  an 
extinct  volcano.  Its  summit  is  composed  of  lava,  arid  if  your  eye  is  familiar 
with  the  peculiar  shape  of  volcanic  peaks,  you  can  easily  trace  the  now  broken 
lines  of  this  old  crater  as  you  view  the  mountain  from  the  Shasta  plain  on  the 
north. 

There  are  many  extremely  pretty  valleys  scattered  through  these  mountains, 
and  these  are  used  by  small  farmers,  and  by  sheep  and  cattle  owners  who  in 
the  winter  take  their  stock  into  the  lower  valleys,  but  ascend  into  the  mount 
ains  in  May,  and  remain  until  October.  This  is  also  a  timber  region,  and  as 
it  is  well  watered  by  permanent  streams  you  see  frequent  saw-mills,  and  al 
together  more  improvement  than  one  expects  to  find.  But,  proceeding  further 
north  you  come  upon  a  large  plain,  the  Shasta  Valley,  in  which  lies  the  con 
siderable  town  of  Yreka,  notable  during  the  last  winter  and  spring  as  the  point 
from  which  news  came  to  us  about  the  Modoc  war. 

From  Yreka  you  may  easily  visit  the  celebrated  "  lava  beds,"  where  the  In 
dians  made  so  stubborn  and  long-continued  a  defense  against  the  United  States 
troops ;  and  at  Yreka  you  may  hear  several  opinions  upon  the  merits  of  the 
Modocs  and  their  war.  You  will  hear,  for  instance,  that  the  Indians  were 
stirred  up  to  hostilities  by  mischievous  and  designing  whites,  that  white  men 
were  not  wanting  to  supply  them  with  arms  and  ammunition,  and  that,  had  it 
not  been  for  the  unscrupulous  management  of  some  greedy  and  wicked  whites, 
we  should  not  have  been  horrified  by  the  shocking  incidents  of  this  costly 
Indian  trouble,  in  which  the  United  States  Government  for  six  months  waged 
war  against  forty-six  half-starved  Modocs. 

The  Shasta  Valley  is  an  extensive  plain,  chiefly  used  at  present  as  a  range 
for  cattle  and  sheep.  But  its  soil  is  fertile,  and  the  valley  contains  some  good 
farms.  Bejjond  Yreka  gold  mining  is  pursued,  and,  indeed,  almost  the  whole 
of  the  mountain  region  north  of  Redding  yields  "the  color;"  and  at  many 
points  along  the  Upper  Sacramento  and  the  mountain  streams  which  fall  into 
it,  gold  is  mined  profitably.  One  day,  at  the  Soda  Spring,  several  of  us  asked 
Mr.  Fry  whether  he  could  find  gold  near  the  river.  He  took  a  pan,  and  dig 
ging  at  random  in  his  orchard,  washed  out  three  or  four  specks  of  gold ;  and  he 
related  that  when  he  was  planting  this  orchard  ten  years  ago  he  found  gold 
in  the  holes  he  dug  for  his  apple-trees.  But  he  is  an  old  miner,  and  experience 
has  taught  him  that  a  good  apple  orchard  is  more  profitable,  in  the  long  run, 
than  a  poor  gold  mine. 

A  large  part  of  the  Sacramento  Valley  is  still  used  for  grazing  purposes, 
but  the  farmers  press  every  year  more  and  more  upon  the  graziers;  and  the 


120    NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

policy  of  the  Government  in  holding  its  own -lands  within  what  are  called 
"  railroad  limits  " — that  is  to  say,  within  twenty  miles  on  each  side  of  the  rail 
road — for  settlement  under  the  pre-emption  and  homestead  laws,  as  well  as 
the  policy  of  the  railroad  company  in  selling  its  lands,  the  alternate  sections 
for  twenty  miles  on  each  side  of  the  road,  on  easy  terms  and  with  long  credit 
to  actual  settlers,  prevents  land  monopoly  in  this  region.  There  is  room,  and 
cheap  and  fertile  land,  for  an  immense  population  of  industrious  farmers,  who 
can  live  here  in  a  mild  climate,  and  till  a  fertile  soil,  and  who  need  only  intelli 
gence  and  enterprise  to  raise  profitably  raisins,  orchard  fruits,  castor-oil,  pea 
nuts,  silk,  and  a  dozen  other  products  valuable  in  the  world's  commerce,  and 
not  produced  elsewhere  in  this  country  so  easily.  It  is  still  in  this  region  a 
time  of  large  farms  poorly  tilled;  but  I  believe  that  small  farms,  from  160  to 
320  acres,  will  prove  far  more  profitable  in  the  end. 

The  progress  of  California  in  material  enterprises  is  something  quite  won 
derful  and  startling.  A  year  brings  about  changes  for  which  one  can  hardly 
look  in  ten  years.  It  is  but  eighteen  months  ago  that  the  idea  of  a  system  of 
irrigation,  to  include  the  whole  of  the  San  Joaquin  Valley,  was  broached,  and 
then  the  most  sanguine  of  the  projectors  thought  that  to  give  their  enterprise 
a  fair  start  would  require  years,  and  a  great  number  of  shrewd  men  believed 
the  whole  scheme  visionary.  But  a  few  experiments  showed  to  land-owners 
and  capitalists  the  enormous  advantages  of  irrigation,  and  now  this  scheme  has 
sufficient  capital  behind  it,  and  large  land-holders  are  offering  subsidies  and 
mortgaging  their  lands  to  raise  means  to  hasten  the  completion  of  the  canal. 
Two  years  ago  the  reclamation  of  the  tule  lands,  though  begun,  advanced  slow 
ly,  and  arguments  were  required  to  convince  men  that  tule  land  was  a  safe 
investment.  But  this  year  eight  hundred  miles  of  levee  will  be  completed, 
and  thousands  of  acres  will  bear  wheat  next  harvest  which  were  overflowed 
eighteen  months  ago.  Two  years  ago  the  question  whether  California  could 
produce  good  raisins  could  not  be  answered ;  but  last  fall  raisins  which  sold 
in  the  San  Francisco  market  beside  the  best  Malagas  were  cured  by  several 
persons,  and  it  is  now  certain  that  this  State  can  produce — and  from  its  poor 
est  side-hill  lands — raisins  enough  to  supply  the  whole  Union.  Not  a  year 
passes  but  some  new  and  valuable  product  of  the  soil  is  naturalized  in  this 
State;  and  one  who  has  seen  the  soil  and  who  knows  the  climate  of  the  two 
great  valleys,  who  sees  that  within  five,  or,  at  most,  ten  years  all  their  over 
flowed  lands  will  be  diked  and  reclaimed,  and  all  their  dry  lands  will  be  irri 
gated,  and  who  has,  besides,  seen  how  wide  is  the  range  of  products  which 
the  soil  and  climate  yield,  comes  at  last  to  have  what  seems  to  most  Eastern 
people  an  exaggerated  view  of  the  future  of  California. 

But,  in  truth,  it  is  not  easy  to  exaggerate,  for  the  soil  in  the  great  valleys  is 
deep  and  of  extraordinary  fertility ;  there  are  no  forests  to  clear  away,  and 
farms  lie  ready-made  to  the  settlers'  hands ;  the  range  of  products  includes  all 


THE  SACRAMENTO  VALLEY.  121 

those  of  the  temperate  zone  and  many  of  the  torrid ;  the  climate  is  invigora 
ting,  and  predisposes  to  labor ;  and  the  seasons  are  extraordinarily  favorable 
to  the  labors  of  the  farmer  and  gardener.  The  people  have  not  yet  settled 
down  to  hard  work.  There  are  so  many  chances  in  life  out  there  that  men 
become  overenterprising  —  a  speculative  spirit  invades  even  the  farm-house ; 
and  as  a  man  can  always  live  —  food  being  so  abundant  and  the  climate  so 
kindly — and  as  the  population  is  as  yet  sparse,  men  are  tempted  to  go  from 
one  avocation  to  another,  to  do  many  things  superficially,  and  to  look  for  sud 
den  fortunes  by  the  chances  of  a  shrewd  venture,  rather  than  be  content  to 
live  by  patient  and  continued  labor.  This,  however,  is  the  condition  of  all  new 
countries ;  it  will  pass  away  as  population  becomes  more  dense.  And,  mean 
time  California  has  gifts  of  nature  which  form  a  solid  substratum  upon  which 
will,  in  a  few  years,  be  built  up  a  community  productive  far  beyond  the  average 
of  wealthy  or  productive  communities.  This  is  my  conclusion  after  seeing  all 
parts  of  this  State  more  in  detail  than  perhaps  any  one  man  has  taken  the 
trouble  to  examine  it. 


122    NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


CHAPTER  II. 
WINE  AND  RAISINS— PROFITS  OF  DRYING  FRUITS. 

T  HAVE  now  seen  the  grape  grow  in  almost  every  part  of  California  where 
-•-  wine  is  made.  The  temptation  to  a  new  settler  in  this  State  is  always 
strong  to  plant  a  vineyard ;  and  I  am  moved,  by  much  that  I  have  seen,  to 
repeat  here  publicly  advice  I  have  often  given  to  persons  newly  coming  into 
the  State:  Do  not  make  wine.  I  remember  a  wine-cellar,  cheaply  built,  but 
with  substantial  and  costly  casks,  containing  (because  the  vineyard  was  badly 
placed)  a  mean,  thin,  fiery  wine;  and  on  a  pleasant  sunny  afternoon,  around 
these  casks,  a  group  of  tipsy  men — hopeless,  irredeemable  beasts,  with  nothing 
much  to  do  except  to  encourage  each  other  to  another  glass,  and  to  wonder 
at  the  Eastern  man  who  would  not  drink.  There  were  two  or  three  Indians 
staggering  about  the  door;  there  was  swearing  and  filthy  talk  inside;  there 
was  a  pretentious  tasting  of  this,  that,  and  the  other  cask  by  a  parcel  of  sots, 
who  in  their  hearts  would  have  preferred  "  forty-rod  "  whisky.  And  a  little 
way  off  there  was  a  house  with  women  and  children  in  it,  who  had  only  to 
look  out  of  the  door  to  see  this  miserable  sight  of  husband,  father,  friends, 
visitors,  and  hired  men  spending  the  afternoon  in  getting  drunk. 


WINE  AND  RAISINS— PROFITS  OF  DRYING  FRUITS. 


123 


I  do  not  want 
any  one  to  under 
stand  that  every 
vineyard  is  a  nest 
of  drunkards,  for 
this  is  not  true. 
In  the  Napa  and 
Sonoma  valleys,  in 
the  foot-hills  of  the 
Sierra,  at  Anaheim 
and  elsewhere  in 
the  southern  coun 
try,  you  may  find 
many  men  cultiva 
ting  the  grape  and 
making  wine  in  all 
soberness.  But  ev 
erywhere,  and 
my  own  experience 

nearly  as  often,  you  will  see  the  proprietor, 
or  his  sons  or  his  hired  men,  bearing  the 
marks  of  strong  drink ;  and  too  often,  if 
you  come  unexpectedly,  you  will  see  some 
poor  wretch  in  the  wine-house  who  about 
four  o'clock  is  maudlin. 

Seeing  all  this,  I  advise  no  new  settler 
in  the  State  to  make  wine.  He  runs  too 
many  risks  with  children  and  laborers, 
even  if  he  himself  escapes. 

In  giving  this  advice,  I  do  not  mean  to  be  offensive  to  the  great  body  of 
wine  growers  in  California,  which  numbers  in  its  list  a  great  many  able,  care 
ful,  and  sober  men,  who  are  doing,  as  they  have  done,  much  and  worthily  for 
the  prosperity  of  the  State  and  for  the  production  of  good  wine,  and  whose 
skill  and  enterprise  are  honorable  to  them.  But  the  best  and  most  thoughtful 
of  these  men  will  bear  me  out  when  I  say  that  wine  growing  and  making  is  a 
business  requiring  eminent  skill  and  great  practical  good  sense,  and  that  not 
every  one  who  comes  to  California  with  means  enough  to  plant  a  vineyard 
ought  to  enter  this  business  or  can  in  the  long  run  do  so  safely  or  profitably. 

Fortunately,  no  one  need  make  wine,  though  every  man  may  raise  grapes ; 
for  it  is  now  a  fact,  established  by  sufficient  and  practical  trial,  that  raisins,  equal 
in  every  respect  to  the  best  Malaga,  can  be  made  in  California  from  the  proper 
varieties  of  grapes,  and  can  be  sold  for  a  price  which  will  very  handsomely  pay 


POINT   ARENA   LIG1IT-IIOUSE. 


124    NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

the  maker,  and  with  a  much  smaller  investment  of  capital  and  less  skill  than  are 
required  to  establish  a  wine-cellar  and  make  wine.  The  vineyard  owners  al 
ready  complain  that  they  can  not  always  readily  sell  their  crude  wine  at  a  pay 
ing  price ;  but  the  market  for  carefully-made  raisins  is,  as  I  am  told  by  the 
principal  fruit  dealers  in  San  Francisco,  open  and  eager.  To  make  wine  re 
quires  uncommon  skill  and  care,  and  to  keep  it  so  that  age  shall  give  it  that 
merit  which  commands  a  really  good  price  demands  considerable  capital  in  the 
necessary  outlay  for  casks.  While  the  skillful  wine-maker  undoubtedly  gets  a 
large  profit  on  his  vines,  it  begins  to  be  seen  here  that  there  is  an  overs upply 
of  poorly-made  wine. 

But  any  industrious  person  who  has  the  right  kind  of  grapes  can  make  rai 
sins;  and  raisin-making,  which  in  1871  had  still  a  very  uncertain  future  in  this 
State,  may  now  safely  be  called  one  of  the  established  and  most  promising  in 
dustries  here. 

In  1872  I  ate  excellent  raisins  in  Los  Angeles,  and  tolerable  ones  in  Visalia; 
but  they  sell  very  commonly  in  the  shops  what  they  call  "  dried  grapes," 
which  are  not  raisins  at  all,  but  damp,  sticky,  disagreeable  things,  not  good  even 
in  puddings.  This  year,  however,  I  have  seen  in  several  places  good  native 
raisins;  and  the  head  of  the  largest  fruit-importing  house  in  San  Francisco 
told  me  that  one  raisin-maker  last  fall  sold  the  whole  of  his  crop  there  at  $2 
per  box  of  twenty-five  pounds,  Malagas  of  the  same  quality  bringing  at  the 
same  time  but  $2.37J.  There  is  a  market  for  all  well-made  raisins  that  can  be 
produced  in  the  State,  he  said,  and  they  are  preferred  to  the  foreign  product. 

At  Folsom,  Mr.  Bugby  told  me  he  had  made  last  year  1700  boxes  of  rai 
sins,  and  he  was  satisfied  with  the  pecuniary  return;  and  I  judge  from  the 
testimony  of  different  persons  that  at  seven  cents  per  pound  raisins  will  pay 
the  farmer  very  well.  The  Malaga  and  the  White  Muscat  are  the  grapes  which 
appear  here  to  make  the  best  raisins.  Nobody  has  yet  tried  the  Seedless  Sul 
tana,  which,  however,  bears  well  here,  and  would  make,  I  should  think,  an  ex 
cellent  cooking  raisin. 

For  making  raisins  they  wait  until  the  grape  is  fully  ripe,  and  then  careful 
ly  cut  off  the  bunches  and  lay  them  either  on  a  hard  clay  floor,  formed  in  the 
open  air,  or  on  brown  paper  laid  between  the  vine  rows.  They  do  not  trim 
out  poor  grapes  from  the  bunches,  because,  as  they  assert,  there  are  none ;  but 
I  suspect  this  will  have  to  be  done  for  the  very  finest  raisins,  such  as  would 
tempt  a  reluctant  buyer.  The  bunches  require  from  eighteen  to  twenty-four 
days  of  exposure  in  the  sun  to  be  cured.  During  that  time  they  are  gently 
turned  from  time  to  time,  and  such  as  are  earliest  cured  are  at  once  removed 
to  a  raisin-house. 

This  is  fitted  with  shelves,  on  which  the  raisins  are  laid  about  a  foot  thick, 
and  here  they  are  allowed  to  sweat  a  little.  If  they  sweat  too  much  the  sugar 
candies  on  the  outside,  and  this  deteriorates  the  quality  of  the  raisin.  It  is  an 


WINE  AND  RAISINS— PROFITS  OF  DRYING  FRUITS.  125 

object  to  keep  the  bloom  on  the  berries.  They  are  kept  in  the  raisin-house,  I 
was  told,  five  or  six  weeks,  when  they  are  dry  enough  to  box.  It  is  as  yet  cus 
tomary  to  put  them  in  twenty-five  pound  boxes,  but,  no  doubt,  as  more  experi 
ence  is  gained,  farmers  will  contrive  other  parcels.  Chinese  do  all  the  work  in 
raisin-making,  and  are  paid  one  dollar  a  day,  they  supplying  themselves  with 
food.  There  is  no  rain  during  the  raisin-making  season,  and,  consequently, 
the  whole  outdoor  work  may  be  done  securely  as  well  as  cheaply. 

Enormous  quantities  of  fruit  are  now  put  up  in  tin  cans  in  this  State ;  and 
you  will  be  surprised,  perhaps — as  I  was  the  other  day — to  hear  of  an  orchard 
of  peach  arid  apricot  trees,  which  bears  this  year  (1873)  its  first  full  crop,  and 
for  one  hundred  acres  of  which  the  owners  have  received  ten  thousand  dol 
lars  cash,  gold,  selling  the  fruit  on  the  trees,  without  risk  of  ripening  or  trou 
ble  of  picking. 

Yet  peaches  and  apricots  are  not  the  most  profitable  fruits  in  this  State,  for 
the  cherry — the  most  delicious  cherries  in  the  world  grow  here — is  worth  even 
more ;  and  I  suspect  that  the  few  farmers  who  have  orchards  of  plums,  and 
carefully  dry  the  fruit,  make  as  much  money  as  the  cherry  owners.  There  has 
sprung  up  a  very  lively  demand  for  California  dried  plums.  They  bring  from 
twenty  to  twenty-two  cents  per  pound  at  wholesale  in  San  Francisco,  and  even 
as  high  as  thirty  cents  for  the  best  quality ;  and  I  am  told  that  last  season  a 
considerable  quantity  was  shipped  Eastward  and  sold  at  a  handsome  profit  in 
New  York. 

The  plum  bears  heavily  and  constantly  north  of  Sacramento,  and  does  not 
suffer  from  the  curculio,  and  the  dried  fruit  is  delicious  and  wholesome. 

Some  day  the  farmers  who  are  now  experimenting  with  figs  will,  I  do  not 
doubt,  produce  also  a  marketable  dried  fig  in  large  quantities.  At  San  Fran 
cisco,  in  October,  1873,  I  found  in  the  shops  delicious  dried  figs,  but  not  in 
great  quantities,  nor  so  thoroughly  dried  as  to  bear  shipment  to  a  distance. 
The  tree  flourishes  in  almost  all  parts  of  the  State.  Usually  it  bears  two  and 
often  three  crops  a  year,  and  it  grows  into  a  noble  and  stately  tree. 

I  am  told  that  when  Smyrna  figs  sell  for  twenty  to  thirty  cents  per  pound,  Cal 
ifornia  figs  bring  but  from  five  to  ten  cents.  The  tree  comes  into  full  bearing, 
where  its  location  is  favorable,  in  its  third  or  fourth  year ;  and  ought  to  yield 
then  about  sixty  pounds  of  dried  figs.  I  suspect  the  cost  of  labor  will  control 
the  drying  of  figs,  for  they  must  be  picked  by  hand.  If  they  fall  to  the  ground 
they  are  easily  bruised,  and  the  bruised  part  turns  sour. 

They  are  dried  in  the  shade,  and  on  straw,  which  lets  the  air  get  to  every 
part.  Irrigation  is  not  good  after  the  tree  bears,  as  the  figs  do  not  dry  so  read 
ily.  Birds  and  ants  are  fond  of  the  fruit;  and  in  one  place  I  was  told  the 
birds  took  almost  the  whole  of  the  first  crop.  There  are  many  varieties  of  the 
fig  grown  in  this  State,  but  the  White  Smyrna  is,  I  believe,  thought  to  be  the 
best  for  market.  There  are  no  large  plantations  of  this  tree  in  the  State,  but  it 


126     NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

is  found  on  almost  every  farm  and  country  place,  and  is  a  very  wholesome  fruit 
when  eaten  green. 

When  the  farmers  of  the  Sacramento  Valley  become  tired  of  sowing  wheat, 
and  when  the  land  comes  into  the  hands  of  small  farmers,  as  it  is  now  doing  to 
some  extent,  it  will  be  discovered  that  fruit-trees  are  surer  and  more  profitable 
than  grain.  A  considerable  emigration  is  now  coming  into  California;  and  I 
advise  every  one  who  goes  there  to  farm  to  lose  no  time  before  planting  an  or 
chard.  Trees  grow  very  rapidly,  and  it  will  be  many  years  before  such  fruits 
as  the  cherry,  plum,  apricot,  or  the  raisin-grape  are  too  abundant  to  yield  to 
their  owners  exceptionally  large  profits. 


THE  TULE  LANDS  AND  LAND  DRAINAGE. 


127 


SHIPPING  LUMBER,  MENDOCINO   COUNTY. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  TULE  LANDS  AND  LAND  DRAINAGE. 

WHILE  you  are  talking  about  redeeming  the  New  Jersey  marshes  these 
go-ahead  Californians  are  actually  diking  and  reclaiming  similar  and,  in 
some  cases,  richer  overflowed  lands  by  the  hundred  thousand  acres. 

If  you  will  take,  on  a  map  of  California,  Stockton,  Sacramento,  and  San  Fran 
cisco  for  guiding  points,  you  will  see  that  a  large  part  of  the  land  lying  be 
tween  these  cities  is  marked  "swamp  and  overflowed."  Until  within  five  or 
six  years  these  lands  attracted  but  little  attention.  It  was  known  that  they 
were  extremely  fertile,  but  it  was  thought  that  the  cost  and  uncertainty  of  re 
claiming  them  were  too  great  to  warrant  the  enterprise.  Of  late,  however, 
they  have  been  rapidly  bought  up  by  capitalists,  and  their  sagacity  has  been 
justified  by  the  results  on  those  tracts  which  have  been  reclaimed. 

These  Tule  lands — the  word  is  pronounced  as  though  spelled  "toola" — are 
simply  deposits  of  muck,  a  mixture  of  the  wash  or  sediment  brought  down  by 
the  Sacramento  and  San  Joaquin  rivers  with  the  decayed  vegetable  matter  re 
sulting  from  an  immense  growth  of  various  grasses,  and  of  the  reed  called  the 
"tule,"  which  often  grows  ten  feet  high  in  a  season,  and  decays  every  year. 
The  Tule -lands  are  in  part  the  low  lands  along  the  greater  rivers,  but  in  part 


128     NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

they  are  islands,  lying  in  the  delta  of  the  Sacramento  and  San  Joaquin  rivers, 
and  separated  from  each  other  by  deep,  narrow  "  sloughs,"  or  "  slews"  as  they 
are  called — branches  of  these  rivers,  in  fact.  Before  reclamation  they  are  over 
flowed  commonly  twice  a  year — in  the  winter,  when  the  rains  cause  the  rivers 
to  rise ;  and  again  in  June,  when  the  melting  of  the  snows  on  the  mountains 
brings  another  rise.  You  may  judge  of  the  extent  of  this  overflowed  land  by 
the  following  list  of  the  principal  Tule  Islands : 

Acres. 

Robert's  Island 67,000 

Union  Island 50,000 

Grizzly  Island 15,000 

Sherman  Island , 14,000 

Grand  Island 17,000 

Ryer  Island 11,800 

Staten  Island 8,000 

Bacon  Island 7,000' 

Brannan  Island 7,000 

Bouldin  Island 5,000 

Mandeville  Island 5,000 

Venice  Island 4,000 

Tyler  Island 4,000 

Andros  Island 4,000 

Twitchell  Island 3,600 

Sutler  Island 3,000 

Joyce  Island 1,500 

Rough  and  Ready  Island 1,500 

Long  Island 1,000 

In  all 217,400 

These  are  the  largest  islands;  but  you  must  understand  that  on  the  main 
land,  along  the  'Sacramento  and  its  affluents,  there  is  a  great  deal  of  similar 
land,  probably  at  least  twice  as  much  more,  perhaps  three  times. 

The  swamp  and  overflowed  lands  were  given  by  Congress  to  the  State ;  and 
the  State  has,  in  its  turn,  virtually  given  them  to  private  persons.  It  has  sold 
them  for  one  dollar  per  acre,  of  which  twenty  per  cent,  was  paid  down,  or 
twenty  cents  per  acre;  and  this  money,  less  some  small  charges  for  recording 
the  transfer  and  for  inspecting  the  reclamation,  is  returned  by  the  State  to  the 
purchaser  if  he,  within  three  years  after  the  purchase,  reclaims  his  land.  That 
is  to  say,  the  State  gives  away  the  land  on  condition  that  it  shall  be  reclaimed 
and  brought  into  cultivation. 

During  a  number  of  years  past  enterprising  individuals  have  undertaken  to 
reclaim  small  tracts  on  these  islands  by  diking  them,  but  with  not  encouraging 
success,  and  it  was  not  until  a  law  was  passed  empowering  the  majority  of 
owners  of  overflowed  lands  in  any  place  to  form  a  reclamation  district,  choose 
a  Board  of  Reclamation,  and  levy  a  tax  upon  all  the  land  in  the  district,  for 


THE  TITLE  LANDS  AND  LAND  DRAINAGE. 


129 


building  and  maintaining  the  dikes 
or  levees  that  these  lands  really  came 
into  use. 

Now,  this  work  of  draining  is  go 
ing  on  so  fast  that  this  year  nearly 
six  hundred  miles  of  levee  will  be 
completed  among  the  islands  alone, 
not  to  speak  of  reclamation  districts 
on  the  main-land.  There  seems  to 
be  a  general  determination  to  do  the 

work  thoroughly,  the  high  floods  of  1871-72  having  shown  the  farmers  and 
land-owners  that  they  must  build  high  and  strong  levees,  or  else  lose  all,  or 
at  least  much,  of  their  labor  and  outlay.  During  the  spring  of  1872  I  saw 
huge  breaks  in  some  of  the  levees,  which  overflowed  lands  to  the  serious  dam 
age  of  farmers,  for  not  only  is  the  crop  of  the  year  lost,  but  orchards  and 

9 


A.    WATER   JAM    OF    LOGS. 


130    NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

vineyards,  which  flourish  on  the  Tule  lauds,  perished  or  were  seriously  injured 
by  the  waters. 

Chinese  labor  is  used  almost  entirely  in  making  the  levees.  An  engineer 
having  planned  the  work,  estimates  are  made,  and  thereupon  Chinese  foremen 
take  contracts  for  pieces  at  stipulated  rates,  and  themselves  hire  their  country 
men  for  the  actual  labor.  This  subdivision,  to  which  the  perfect  organization 
of  Chinese  labor  readily  lends  itself,  is  very  convenient.  The  engineer  or  mas 
ter  in  charge  of  the  work  deals  only  with  the  Chinese  foremen,  pays  them  for 
the  work  done,  and  exacts  of  them  the  due  performance  of  the  contract. 

The  levee  stuff  is  taken  from  the  inside ;  thus  the  ditch  is  inside  of  the  levee, 
and  usually  on  the  outside  is  a  space  of  low  marsh,  which  presently  fills  with 
willow  and  cotton-wood.  You  may  sail  along  the  river  or  slough,  therefore, 
for  miles,  and  see  only  occasional  evidences  of  the  embankment. 

The  soil  is  usually  a  tough  turf,  full  of  roots,  which  is  very  cheaply  cut  out 
with  an  instrument  called  a  "  tule-knif e,"  and  thrown  up  on  the  levee,  where  it 
seems  to  bind  well,  though  one  would  not  think  it  would.  At  frequent  inter 
vals  are  self-acting  tide-gates  for  drainage;  these  are  made  of  the  redwood  of 
the  coast,  which  does  not  rot  in  the  water.  The  rise  and  fall  of  the  tides  is 
about  six  feet.  The  levees  have  been  in  some  places  troubled  with  beaver, 
which,  however,  are  now  hunted  for  their  fur,  and  will  not  long  be  trouble 
some.  There  is  no  musk-rat — an  animal  which  would  do  serious  damage  here. 
The  tule-rat  lives  on  roots  on  the  land,  but  is  not  active  or  strong  enough  to  be 
injurious. 

The  levee  is  usually  from  six  to  eight-feet  broad  on  top,  with  the  inside  slop 
ing;  but  I  was  told  that  experience  had  shown  that  the  outside  should  be  per 
pendicular.  It  is  not  unusual  for  parts  of  a  levee  to  sink  down,  but  I  could 
hear  of  no  case  of  capsizing.  The  Levee  Board  of  a  district  appoints  levee-mas 
ters,  whose  duty  it  is  to  look  after  the  condition  of  the  work,  and  on  the  islands 
I  visited  there  were  gangs  of  Chinamen  engaged  in  repairing  and  heightening 
the  embankments. 

You  land  at  a  wharf,  and,  standing  on  top  of  the  levee,  you  see  before  you 
usually  the  house  and  other  farm  buildings,  set  up  on  piles,  for  security  against 
a  break  and  overflow ;  and  beyond  a  great  track  of  level  land,  two  or  three  or 
five  feet  below  the  level  of  the  levee,  and,  if  it  has  but  lately  been  reclaimed, 
covered  with  the  remnants  of  tules  and  of  grass  sods. 

When  the  levee  is  completed,  and  the  land  has  had  opportunity  to  drain  a 
little,  the  first  operation  is  to  burn  it  over.  This  requires  time  and  some  care, 
for  it  is  possible  to  burn  too  deep ;  and  in  some  parts  the  fire  burns  deep  holes 
if  it  is  not  checked.  If  the  land  is  covered  with  dry  tules,  the  fire  is  set  so  eas 
ily  that  a  single  match  will  burn  a  thousand  acres,  the  strong  trade-wind  which 
blows  up  the  river  and  across  these  lands  carrying  the  fire  rapidly.  If  the  dry 
tules  have  been  washed  off,  a  Chinaman  is  sent  to  dig  holes  through  the  upper 


THE  TULE  LANDS  AND  LAND  DRAINAGE.  131 

sod ;  after  him  follows  another,  with  a  back-load  of  straw  wisps,  who  sticks  a 
wisp  into  each  hole,  lights  it  with  a  match,  and  goes  on.  At  this  rate,  I  am 
told,  it  cost  on  one  island  only  one  hundred  dollars  to  burn  fifteen  hundred 
acres. 

When  this  work  is  done  you  have  an  ash-heap,  extremely  disagreeable  to 
walk  over,  and  not  yet  solid  enough  to  bear  horses  or  oxen.  Accordingly,  the 
first  crop  is  put  on  with  sheep.  First  the  tract  is  sowed,  usually  with  a  cof 
fee-mill  sower  or  hand  machine,  and,  I  am  told,  at  the  rate  of  about  thirty 
pounds  of  wheat  to  the  acre,  though  I  believe  it  would  be  better  to  sow  more 
thickly.  Then  comes  a  band  or  flock  of  about  five  hundred  sheep.  These  are 
driven  over  the  surface  in  a  compact  body,  and  at  no  great  rate  of  speed,  and 
it  is  surprising  how  readily  they  learn  what  is  expected  of  them,  and  how  thor 
oughly  they  tramp  in  the  seed.  Dogs  are  used  in  this  work  to  keep  the  sheep 
together,  and  they  expect  to  "  sheep  in,"  as  they  call  it,  about  sixteen  acres  a 
day  with  five  hundred  animals,  giving  these  time  besides  to  feed  on  the  levee 
and  on  spare  land. 

Tule  land  thus  prepared  has  actually  yielded  from  forty  to  sixty  bushels  of 
wheat  per  acre.  It  does  not  always  do  so,  because,  as  I  myself  saw,  it  is  often 
badly  and  irregularly  burned  over,  and  probably  otherwise  mismanaged.  The 
crop  is  taken  off  with  headers,  as  is  usual  in  this  State. 

For  the  second  year's  crop  the  land  is  plowed.  A  two-share  gang-plow  is 
used,  with  a  seat  for  the  plowman.  It  is  drawn  by  four  horses,  who  have  to 
be  shod  with  broad  wooden  shoes,  usually  made  of  ash  plank,  nine  by  eleven 
inches,  fastened  to  the  iron  shoes  of  the  horse  by  screws. 

The  soil  does  not  appear  to  be  sour,  and  no  doubt  the  ashes  from  the  burning 
off  do  much  to  sweeten  it  where  it  needs  that.  But  several  years  are  needed 
to  reduce  the  ground  to  its  best  condition  for  tillage,  and  the  difference  in  this 
respect  between  newly -burned  or  second-crop  lands  and  such  matured  farms  as 
that  of  Mr.  Bigelow  on  Sherman  Island  —  who  has  been  there  eight  or  nine 
years — is  very  striking. 

It  seemed  to  me  that  the  farmers  and  land-owners  with  whom  I  spoke  knew 
"  for  certain  "  but  very  little  about  the  best  ways  to  manage  these  lands,  and 
that  the  advice  of  a  thorough  scientific  agriculturist,  like  Professor  Johnson  of 
Yale,  would  be  very  valuable  to  them.  Now,  they  know  only  that  the  land 
when  burned  over  will  bear  large  crops  of  wheat ;  and,  of  course,  in  all  practical 
measures  for  economically  putting  in  and  taking  off  a  wheat  crop  the  Califor- 
nian  needs  no  instructor. 

The  soil  seemed  to  me,  so  far  as  they  dig  into  it — say  six  feet  deep — to  be, 
not  peat,  but  a  mass  of  undecayed  or  but  partly  decayed  roots,  strongly  adher 
ing  together,  so  that  the  upper  part  of  a  levee,  taken  of  course  from  the  lowest 
part  of  the  ditch,  lay  in  firm  sods  or  tussocks.  These,  however,  seem  to  decay 
pretty  rapidly  on  exposure  to  the  air.  The  drainage  is  not  usually  deeper  than 


132    NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

four  feet,  and  in  places  the  water-level  was  but  three  feet  below  the  surface. 
The  newly  reclaimed  land  being  very  light,  suffers  from  the  dry  season,  and  is 
often  irrigated,  which,  as  it  lies  below  the  river-level,  can  be  quickly  and  cheap 
ly  done. 

Sherman  Island  was  one  of  the  earliest  to  be  reclaimed,  and  there  I  visited 
the  fine  farm  of  Mr.  Bigelow — a  New  Hampshire  man,  I  believe,  and  apparent 
ly  a  thorough  farmer.  He  has  lived  on  tule  land  ten  years,  and  his  fields  were 
consequently  in  the  finest  condition.  Here  I  saw  a  three-hundred-acre  field  of 
wheat,  as  fine  as  wheat  could  be.  He  thought  he  should  get  about  forty-five 
bushels  per  acre  this  year.  He  had  got,  he  told  me,  between  sixty-five  and 
seventy  bushels  per  acre,  and  without  any  further  labor  the  next  year  brought 
him  from  the  same  fields  fifty-two  bushels  per  acre  as  a  "volunteer"  or  self- 
seeded  crop. 

Here  I  saw  luxuriant  red  clover  and  blue  grass,  and  he  had  also  a  field  of  car 
rots,  which  do  well  on  this  alluvial  bottom,  it  seems.  But  what  surprised  me 
more  was  to  find  that  apples,  pears,  peaches,  plums,  grapes,  apricots — all  the 
fruits — do  well  on  this  soil.  With  us  I  thinly  the  pear  would  not  do  well  on 
peat ;  but  here  it  withstood  last  year's  flood,  which  broke  a  levee  and  overflow 
ed  Mr.  Bigelow's  farm,  and  the  trees  do  not  appear  to  have  suffered.  He  had 
also  wind-breaks  of  osier  willow,  which  of  course  grows  rapidly,  and  had  been 
a  source  of  profit  to  him  in  yielding  cuttings  for  sale. 

Timothy  does  not  do  well  on  tule  land,  as  its  roots  do  not  push  down  deep 
enough,  and  the  surface  of  such  light  soils  always  dries  up  rapidly.  Mr.  Bige 
low  told  me  that  he  once  sowed  alfalfa  in  February  with  wheat,  and  took  off 
forty-five  bushels  of  wheat  per  acre,  and  a  ton  and  a  half  of  alfalfa  later ;  and 
pastured  (in  a  thirty-acre  field)  twenty-five  head  of  stock  till  Christmas  on  the 
same  land,  after  the  hay  was  cut. 

They  have  one  great  advantage  on  the  tule  lands — they  can  put  in  their  crops 
at  any  time  from  November  to  the  last  of  June. 

It  was  very  curious  to  sit  on  the  veranda  at  the  farm-house,  after  dinner,  with 
A  high  levee  immediately  in  front  of  us  almost  hiding  the  Sacramento  Iliver, 
and  with  a  broad  canal — the  inner  ditch — full  of  fresh  water,  running  along  the 
boundary  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  the  level  of  the  levee  broken  occasion 
ally  by  tide-gates.  The  prospect  would  have  been  monotonous  had  we  not  had 
at  one  side  the  lovely  mountain  range  of  which  Mount  Diablo  is  the  prominent 
peak.  But  the  great  expanse  of  clean  fields,  level  as  a  billiard-table,  and  in  as 
fine  tilth  as  though  this  was  a  model  farm,  was  a  delight  to  the  eye,  too. 

It  may  interest  grape-growers  in  the  East  to  be  told  that  of  what  we  call 
"  foreign  grapes,"  the  Muscat  of  Alexandria  succeeds  best  in  these  moist,  peaty 
lands.  It  is  the  market  grape  here.  Trees  have  not  grown  to  a  great  size  on 
the  tule  lands,  but  bees  are  very  fond  of  the  wild-flowers  which  abound  in  the 
unreclaimed  marshes,  and,  having  no  hollow  trees  to  build  in,  they  adapt  them- 


THE  TULE  LANDS  AND  LAND  DRAINAGE. 


133 


MOUNT   IIOOD,  OREGON. 


selves  to  circumstances  by  constructing 
their  hives  on  the  outside  or  circum 
ference  of  trees. 

Fencing  costs  here  about  three  hun 
dred  and  twenty  dollars  per  mile.  The 
redwood  posts  are  driven  into  the 
ground  with  mauls.  Farm  laborers  receive  in  the  tules  thirty  dollars  per 
month  and  board  if  they  are  white  men,  but  one  dollar  a  day  and  feed  them 
selves,  where  they  are  Chinese. 

On  Twitch  ell  Island  I  found  an  experiment  making  in  ramie  and  jute,  Mr. 
Finch,  formerly  of  Haywards,  having  already  planted  twenty-six  acres  of  ramie, 
and  intending  to  put  seven  acres  into  jute,  for  which  he  had  the  plants  all 
ready,  raised  in  a  canvas-covered  inclosure.  He  raised  ramie  successfully  last 
year,  and  sold,  he  told  me,  from  one-tenth  of  an  acre,  two  hundred  and  sixty 
three  pounds  of  prepared  ramie,  for  fifteen  cents  per  pound.  He  used,  to 
dress  it,  a  machine  made  in  California,  which  several  persons  have  assured  me 
works  well  and  cheaply,  a  fact  which  ramie-growers  in  Louisiana  may  like  to 
know ;  for  the  chief  obstacle  to  ramie  culture  in  this  country  has  been,  so  far, 
the  lack  of  a  cheap  and  rapidly-working  machine  for  its  preparation.  It  struck 


134    NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

me  that  Mr.  Finch's  experiment  with  ramie  and  jute  would  promise  better  were 
it  not  made  on  new  land  from  which  I  believe  only  one  crop  had  been  taken. 

When  these  tule  lands  have  been  diked  and  drained,  they  are  sold  for  from 
twenty  to  twenty-five  dollars  per  acre.  Considering  the  crops  they  bear,  and 
their  nearness  to  market — ships  could  load  at  almost  any  of  the  islands — I  sup 
pose  the  price  is  not  high ;  but  a  farmer  ought  to  be  sure  that  the  levees  are 
high  enough,  and  properly  made.  To  levee  them  costs  variously,  from  three 
to  twelve  dollars  per  acre. 

The  tule  lands  which  lie  on  the  main-land,  and  which  are  equally  rich  with 
the  islands,  are  usually  ditched  and  diked  for  less  than  six  dollars  per  acre ;  and 
this  sum  is  regarded,  I  believe,  by  the  State  Commissioners  as  the  maximum 
which  the  owners  are  allowed  to  borrow  on  reclamation  land-bonds  for  the  pur 
pose  of  levee  building. 

I  spoke  awhile  back  of  the  existence  of  beavers  in  the  tule  country.  Elk  and 
grizzly  bears  used  also  to  abound  here,  and  I  am  told  that  on  the  unreclaimed 
lands  elk  are  still  found,  though  the  grizzlies  have  gone  to  the  mountains. 
One  of  the  curiosities  hereabouts  is  the  ark,  or  floating  house,  used  by  the  hunt 
ers,  which  you  see  anchored  or  moored  in  the  sloughs  :  in  these  they  live,  using 
a  small  boat  when  they  go  ashore  to  hunt,  and  floating  from  place  to  place  with 
the  tide.  On  one  of  these  arks  I  saw  a  magnificent  pair  of  elk  horns  from  an 
animal  recently  shot. 


SHEEP-GRAZING  IN  NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA. 


135 


COAST  VIEW,  MENDOCINO   COUNTY. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

SHEEP-GRAZING  IN  NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA. 

TN"  the  last  year  I  have  received  a  good  many  letters  from  persons  desirous 
-*-  to  try  sheep-farming  in  California,  and  this  has  led  me  to  look  a  little 
closely  into  this  business  as  it  is  conducted  in  the  northern  parts  of  California. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  climate  of  California  gives  some  exceptional  ad 
vantages  to  the  sheep-grazer.  He  need  not,  in  most  parts  of  the  State,  make 
any  provision  against  winter.  He  has  no  need  for  barns  or  expensive  sheds, 
or  for  a  store  of  hay  or  roots.  His  sheep  live  out-of-doors  all  the  year  round, 
and  it  results  that  those  who  have  been  so  fortunate  as  to  secure  cheaply  ex 
tensive  ranges  have  made  a  great  deal  of  money,  even  though  they  conducted 
the  business  very  carelessly. 

It  ought  to  be  understood,  however,  by  persons  who  think  of  beginning  with 
sheep  here,  that  the  business  has  changed  considerably  in  character  within  two 
or  three  years.  Land,  in  the  first  place, has  very  greatly  risen  in  price;  large 
ranges  are  no  longer  easily  or  cheaply  obtained,  and  in  the  coast  counties  of 
Southern  California  particularly  large  tracts  are  now  too  high-priced,  consid- 


136    NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

ering  the  quality  of  the  land  and  its  ability  to  carry  sheep,  for  prudent  men 
to  buy. 

Moreover,  Southern  California  has  some  serious  disadvantages  for  sheep- 
grazing  which  the  northern  part  of  the  State — the  Sacramento  Valley  and  the 
adjoining  coast-range  and  Sierra  foot-hills — are  without,  and  which  begin  to 
tell  strongly,  now  that  the  wool  of  this  State  begins  to  go  upon  its  merits, 
and  is  no  longer  bought  simply  as  "  California  wool,"  regardless  of  its  quality. 
Southern  California  has  a  troublesome  burr,  which  is  not  found  north  of  Sac 
ramento,  except  on  the  low^er  lands.  In  Southern  California  it  is  often  diffi 
cult  to  tide  the  sheep  over  the  fall  months  in .  good  order,  whereas  in  the 
northern  part  of  the  State  they  have  a  greater  variety  of  land,  and  do  this 
more  easily.  The  average  of  southern  wool  brings  less  by  five  or  six  cents 
per  pound  than  that  of  the  Sacramento  Valley ;  and  this  is  due  in  part  to  the 
soil  and  climate,  and  in  part  to  the  fact  that  sheep  are  more  carefully  kept 
in  the  northern  part  of  the  State. 

Many  of  the  sheep  farmers  in  the  Sacramento  Valley  have  entirely  done 
away  with  the  mischievous  practice  of  corraling  their  sheep — confining  them 
at  night,  I  mean,  in  narrow,  crowded  quarters — a  practice  which  makes  and 
keeps  the  sheep  scabby.  They  very  generally  fence  their  lands,  and  thus  are 
able  to  save  their  pasture  and  to  manage  it  much  more  advantageously.  They 
seem  to  me  more  careful  about  overstocking  than  sheep  farmers  generally  are 
in  the  southern  part  of  the  State,  though  it  should  be  understood  that  such 
men  as  Colonel  Hollester,  Colonel  Diblee,  Dr.  Flint,  and  a  few  others  in  the 
South,  who,  like  these,  have  exceptionally  fine  ranges,  keep  always  the  best 
sheep  in  the  best  manner.  But  smaller  tracks,  sown  to  alfalfa,  are  found  to 
pay  in  the  valleys  where  the  land  can  be  irrigated. 

In  Australia  and  New  Zealand  sheep  inspectors  are  appointed,  who  have 
the  duty  to  examine  flocks  and  force  the  isolation  of  scabby  sheep ;  and  a 
careless  flock-master  who  should  be  discovered  driving  scabby  sheep  through 
the  country  would  be  heavily  fined ;  here  the  law  says  nothing  on  this  head, 
but  I  have  found  this  spring  several  sheep  owners  in  the  Sacramento  Valley 
who  assured  me  that  they  had  eradicated  scab  so  entirely  from  their  flocks 
that  they  dealt  also  by  isolation  with  such  few  single  specimens  as  they  found 
to  have  this  disease. 

Moreover,  I  find  that  the  best  sheep  farmers  aim  to  keep,  not  the  largest 
flocks,  but  the  best  sheep.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  sheep  deteriorates  in 
this  State  unless  it  is  carefully  and  constantly  bred  up.  "  We  must  bring  in 
the  finest  bucks  from  Australia,  or  the  East,  or  our  own  State,"  said  one  very 
successful  sheep  farmer  to  me;  "and  we  must  do  this  all  the  time,  else  our 
flocks  will  go  back."  "  It  is  more  profitable  to  keep  fewer  sheep  of  the  best 
kind  than  more  not  quite  so  good.  It  is  more  profitable  to  keep  a  few  sheep 
always  in  good  condition  than  many  with  a  period  of  semi-starvation  for  them 


SHEEP-GRAZING  IN  NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA. 


137 


in  the  fall,"  said  another ;  and  added,  "  I  would  rather,  if  I  were  to  begin  over 
again,  spend  my  money  on  a  breed  worth  six  dollars  a  head,  than  one  worth 
two  or  three  dollars,  and  I  would  rather  not  keep  sheep  at  all  than  not  fence." 
He  had  his  land — about  twenty-five  thousand  acres — fenced  off  in  lots  of 
from  four  to  six  thousand  acres,  and  into  one  of  these  he  turned  from  six  to 
eight  thousand  sheep,  leaving  them  to  graze  as  they  pleased.  He  had  noticed, 
he  told  me,  that  whereas  the  sheep  under  the  usual  corral  system  feed  the 
greater  part  oi  the  day,  no  matter  how  hot  the  sun,  his  sheep  in  these  large 
pastures  were  lying  down  from  nine  in  the  morning  to  four  or  five  in  the  af 
ternoon  ;  and  he  often  found  them  feeding  far  into  the  night,  and  rising  again 
to  graze  long  before  daylight.  They  were  at  liberty  to  follow  their  own  pleas 
ure,  having  water  always  at  hand.  An  abundant  supply  of  water  he  thought 
of  great  importance. 


INDIAN    SWEAT-HOUSE. 


Of  course,  where  the  sheep  are  turned  out  into  fenced  land  no  shepherds 
are  required,  which  makes  an  important  saving.  One  man,  with  a  horse,  vis 
its  the  different  flocks,  and  can  look  after  ten  or  fifteen  thousand  head. 

The  farmer  whom  I  have  quoted  does  not  dip  his  sheep  to  prevent  or  cure 
scab,  but  mops  the  sore  place,  when  he  discovers  a  scabby  sheep,  with  a 
sponge  dipped  into  the  scab-mixture. 

He  gets,  he  told  me,  from  his  flock  of  ten  thousand  merinoes,  an  average 
of  seven  pounds  per  head  of  wool,  and  he  does  not  shear  any  except  the 
lambs,  in  the  fall.  It  is  a  common  but  bad  practice  here  to  shear  all  sheep 
twice  a  year ;  and  where,  as  is  too  often  the  case,  a  flock  is  very  scabby,  no 
doubt  this  is  necessary. 

He  had  long  sheds  as  shelter  for  his  ewes  about  lambing-time,  so  as  to  pro 
tect  them  against  fierce  winds  and  cold  rain  storms;  and  he  saved  every  year 
about  two  hundred  tons  of  hay,  cut  from  the  wild  pastures,  to  feed  in  case 


138    NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

the  rain  should  hold  off  uncommonly  late.  His  aim  was  to  keep  the  sheep 
always  in  good  condition,  so  that  there  should  never  be  any  weak  place  in  the 
wool.  His  sheds  cost  him  about  one  dollar  per  running  foot.  The  sheep  found 
their  own  way  to  them. 

I  find  it  is  the  habit  of  the  forehanded  sheep-grazers  in  the  Sacramento 
Valley  to  own  a  range  in  the  foot-hills  and  another  on  the  bottom-lands. 
During  the  summer  the  sheep  are  kept  in  the  bottoms,  which  are  then  dry 
and  full  of  rich  grasses ;  in  the  fall  and  winter  they  are  taken  to  the  uplands, 
and  there  they  lamb,  and  are  shorn.  Where  the  range  lies  too  far  away  from 
any  river,  they  drive  the  sheep  in  May  into  the  mountains,  where  they  have 
green  grass  all  summer;  and  about  Red  Bluff  I  saw  a  curious  sight — cattle 
and  horses  wandering,  singly  or  in  small  groups,  of  their  own  motion,  to 
the  mountains,  and  actually  crossing  the  Sacramento  without  driving;  and 
I  was  told  that  in  the  fall  they  would  return,  each  to  its  master's  rancho.  I 
am  satisfied  that,  except,  perhaps,  for  the  region  north  of  Redding,  where  the 
winters  are  cold  and  the  summers  have  rain  and  green  grass,  and  where  long- 
wooled  sheep  will  do  well,  the  merino  is  the  sheep  for  this  State ;  and  "  the 
finer  the  better,"  say  the  best  sheep  men.  Near  Red  Bluff  I  saw  some  fine 
Cotswolds,  and  in  the  coast  valleys  north  of  San  Francisco  these  and  Lei- 
cesters,  I  am  told,  do  well. 

A  great  deal  of  the  land  which  is  now  used  for  sheep  will,  in  the  next  five, 
or  at  most  ten  years,  be  plowed  and  cropped.  There  is  a  tendency  to  tax 
all  land  at  its  real  value ;  and,  except  with  good  management,  it  will  not  pay 
to  keep  sheep  on  land  fit  for  grain  and  taxed  as  grain  land,  which  a  great 
deal  of  the  grazing  land  is.  As  the  State  becomes  more  populous,  the  flocks 
will  become  smaller,  and  the  wool  will  improve  in  quality  at  the  same  time. 

I  have  seen  a  good  deal  of  alfalfa  in  the  Sacramento  Valley,  but  I  have 
seen  also  that  the  sheep  men  do  not  trust  to  it  entirely.  They  believe  that 
it  will  be  better  for  sheep  as  hay  than  as  green  food ;  and  this  lucerne  grows 
so  rankly,  and  has,  unless  it  is  frequently  cut,  so  much  woody  stalk,  that  I 
believe  this  also.  It  makes  extremely  nice  hay. 

Every  man  who  comes  to  California  to  farm  ought  to  keep  some  sheep ; 
and  he  can  keep  them  more  easily  and  cheaply  here  than  anywhere  in  the 
East. 

For  persons  who  want  to  begin  sheep-raising  on  a  large  scale  and  with  cap 
ital  the  opportunities  are  not  so  good  here  now ;  but  there  are  yet  fine  chances 
in  Nevada,  in  the  valley  of  the  Humboldt,  where  already  thousands  of  head 
of  cattle,  and  at  least  one  hundred  thousand  sheep,  are  now  fed  by  persons 
who  do  not  own  the  land  at  all.  I  am  told  extensive  tracts  could  be  bought 
there  at  really  low  prices,  and  with  such  credit  on  much  of  it  as  would  en 
able  a  man  with  capital  enough  to  stock  his  tract  to  pay  for  the  land  out  of 
the  proceeds  of  the  sheep.  The  white  sage  in  the  Humboldt  Valley  is  very 


SHEEP-GRAZING  IN  NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA.  139 

nutritious,  and  there  is  also  in  the  subsidiary  valleys  bunch-grass  and  other 
nutritious  food  for  stock.  Not  a  few  young  men  have  gone  into  this  Hum- 
boldt  country  with  a  few  hundreds  of  sheep,  and  are  now  wealthy.  The  win 
ters  are  somewhat  longer  than  in  California,  but  the  sheep  find  feed  all  the 
year  round ;  and  they  are  shorn  near  the  line  of  the  railroad,  so  that  there  is 
no  costly  transportation  of  the  wool.  Mutton  sheep,  too,  are  driven  to  the 
railroad  to  be  sent  to  market,  and  for  stock,  therefore,  this  otherwise  out-of- 
the-way  region  is  very  convenient. 

Riding  through  the  foot-hills  near  Rocklin — where  I  had  been  visiting  a 
well-kept  sheep-farm — I  saw  a  curious  and  unexpected  sight.  There  are  still 
a  few  wretched  Digger  Indians  in  this  part  of  California ;  and  what  I  saw 
was  a  party  of  these  engaged  in  catching  grasshoppers,  which  they  boil  and 
eat.  They  dig  a  number  of  funnel-shaped  holes,  wide  at  the  top,  and  eighteen 
inches  deep,  on  a  cleared  space,  and  then,  with  rags  and  brush,  drive  the 
grasshoppers  toward  these  holes,  forming  for  that  purpose  a  wide  circle.  It  is 
slow  work,  but  they  seem  to  delight  in  it ;  and  their  excitement  was  great  as 
they  neared  the  circle  of  holes  and  the  insects  began  to  hop  and  fall  into 
them.  At  last  there  was  a  close  and  rapid  rally,  and  half  a  dozen  bushels 
of  grasshoppers  were  driven  into  the  holes;  whereupon  hats,  aprons,  bags, 
and  rags  were  stuffed  in  to  prevent  the  multitudes  from  dispersing;  and 
then  began  the  work  of  picking  them  out  by  handfuls,  crushing  them  roughly 
in  the  hand  to  keep  them  quiet,  and  crowding  them  into  the  bags  in  which 
they  were  to  be  carried  to  their  rancheria. 

"  Sweet — all  same  pudding,"  cried  an  old  woman  to  me,  as  I  stood  looking 
on.  It  is  not  a  good  year  for  grasshoppers  this  year;  nothing  like  the  year 
of  which  an  inhabitant  of  Roseville  spoke  to  me  later  in  the  day,  when  he 
said,  "  they  ate  up  every  bit  of  his  garden-truck,  and  then  sat  on  the  fence  and 
asked  him  for  a  chew  of  tobacco." 

The  sheep  ranges  of  the  northern  interior  counties  are  less  broken  up  than 
in  the  coast  counties  farther  south ;  and  it  is  better  and  more  profitable,  in  my 
judgment,  to  pay  five  dollars  per  acre  for  grazing  lands  in  the  Sacramento  Val 
ley  than  two  dollars  and  a  half  for  grazing  lands  farther  south  and  among  the 
mountains.  The  grazier  in  the  northern  counties  has  two  advantages  over  his 
southern  competitor :  first,  in  the  ability  to  buy  low-lying  lands  on  the  river, 
where  he  can  graze  from  three  to  six  or  even  ten  sheep  to  the  acre  during  the 
summer  months,  and  where  he  may  plant  large  tracts  in  alfalfa ;  and,  secondly, 
in  a  safe  refuge  against  drought  in  the  mountain  meadows  of  the  Sierras,  and 
in  the  little  valleys  and  fertile  hill-slopes  of  the  Coast  Range,  where  there  is 
much  unsurveyed  Government  land,  to  which  hundreds  of  thousands  of  sheep 
and  cattle  are  annually  driven  by  the  graziers  of  the  plain,  who  thus  save  their 
own  pastures,  and  are  able  to  carry  a  much  larger  number  of  sheep  than  they 
otherwise  would. 


140    NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

Moreover,  nearness  to  the  railroad  is  an  important  advantage  for  the  sheep- 
farmer;  and  I  found  that  the  most  enterprising  and  intelligent  sheep  men  in 
the  northern  counties  send  their  wool  direct  by  railroad  to  the  Eastern  States, 
instead  of  shipping  it  to  San  Francisco  to  be  sold. 

Finally,  much  of  the  land  now  obtainable  for  grazing  in  the  Sacramento  Val 
ley,  at  prices  in  some  cases  not  too  dear  for  grazing  purposes,  is  of  a  quality 
which  will  make  it  valuable  agricultural  land  as  soon  as  the  valley  begins  to 
fill  up ;  and  thus,  aside  from  the  profit  from  the  sheep,  the  owner  may  safely 
reckon  upon  a  large  increase  in  the  value  of  his  land.  This  can  not  be  said 
of  much  of  the  grazing  land  of  the  southern  coast  counties,  which  is  mountain- 

O  O  7 

ous  and  broken,  and  fit  only  for  grazing. 

Of  course  I  speak  here  of  the  average  lands  only.  There  are  large  tracts  or 
ranchos  in  the  southern  coast  counties,  such  as  the  Lampoc  rancho  of  Holles- 
ter  &  Diblee,  and  lands  in  the  Salinas  Valley,  which  are  exceptionally  fine,  and 
to  which  what  I  have  said  of  the  coast  ranchos  generally  does  not  apply. 


THE  CHINESE  AS  LABORERS  AND  PRODUCERS. 


141 


ANOTHER   COAST   VIEW,  NORTHERN    CALIFORNIA. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  CHINESE  AS  LABORERS  AND  PRODUCERS. 

AS  I  crossed  from  Oakland  to  San  Francisco  on  a  Sunday  afternoon  last 
July,  there  were  on  the  ferry-boat  a  number  of  Chinese.     They  were  de 
cently  clad,  quiet,  clean,  sat  apart  in  their  places  in  the  lower  part  of  the  boat 
conversing  together,  and  finally  walked  off  the  boat  when  she  came  to  land 
as  orderly  as  though  they  had  been  Massachusetts  Christians. 

There  were  also  on  the  boat  a  number  of  half-grown  and  full-grown  white 
boys,  some  of  whom  had  been  fishing,  and  carried  their  long  rods  with  them. 
These  were  slouchy,  dirty,  loud-voiced,  rude ;  and,  as  they  passed  off  the  boat, 
I  noticed  that  with  their  long  rods  they  knocked  the  hats  of  the  Chinese  off 
their  heads,  or  punched  them  in  the  back,  every  effort  of  this  kind  being  re 
warded  with  boisterous  laughter  from  their  companions.  Nor  did  they  confine 
their  annoyance  entirely  to  the  Chinese,  for  they  jostled  and  pushed  their  way 
out  through  the  crowd  of  men  and  women  very  much  as  a  gang  of  pickpockets 
on  a  Third  Avenue  car  in  ~New  York  conducts  itself  when  its  members  mean 
to  steal  a  watch  or  two. 


142     NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

These  rowdies  were  "Hoodlums;"  and  it  is  the  Hoodlums  chiefly  who 
clamor  about  the  Chinese,  and  who  are  "  ruined  by  Chinese  cheap  labor."  The 
anti-Chinese  agitation  in  San  Francisco  has  led  me  to  look  a  little  closely  into 
this  matter,  and  I  declare  my  belief  that  there  are  not  a  hundred  decent  men 
who  work  for  a  living  in  that  city  engaged  in  this  crusade  against  the  Chinese. 
If  you  could  to-day  assemble  there  all  who  join  in  this  persecution,  and  if  then 
you  took  from  this  assemblage  all  the  Hoodlums,  all  the  bar-room  loafers,  and 
all  the  political -demagogues,  I  don't  believe  you  would  have  a  hundred  men 
left  on  the  ground.  That  is  to  say,  the  people  who  actually  earn  the  bread 
they  eat  do  not  persecute  the  Chinese. 

If  an  Eastern  reader  suggests  that  it  argues  a  lack  of  public  spirit  in  the 
decent  part  of  the  community  to  allow  the  roughs  to  rule  in  this  matter,  I  take 
leave  to  remind  him  of  the  time,  not  very  long  ago,  when  the  same  combination 
of  Hoodlum  and  demagogue  mobbed  negroes  in  New  York,  and  threatened 
vengeance  if  colored  people  were  allowed  to  ride  in  the  street-cars.  Here,  as 
there  then,  there  are  unfortunately  newspapers  which  ignorantly  pander  to  this 
vile  class,  and  help  to  swell  the  cry  of  persecution.  And  here,  as  in  New  York 
a  few  years  ago,  it  results  that  the  proscribed  race  is  hardly  dealt  with,  not  only 
by  the  roughs,  but  sometimes  in  the  courts,  and  gets  scant  and  hard  justice 
dealt  out  to  it.  The  courageous  and  upright  action  of  Mayor  Alvord  in  veto 
ing  the  inhuman  and  silly  acts  of  the  city  supervisors,  which,  by-the-way,  has 
made  him  one  of  the  most  popular  men  in  California,  for  the  moment  shamed 
the  demagogues  and  silenced  the  rowdies ;  but  there  are  means  of  annoying 
the  Chinese  within  the  law,  which  are  still  used.  For  instance,  there  is  an 
ordinance  declaring  a  fine  for  overcrowding  tenement -houses,  and  requiring 
that  in  every  room  there  shall  be  five  hundred  cubic  feet  of  air  for  each  occu 
pant,  and  for  violating  this  a  fine  of  ten  dollars  is  imposed.  This  ordinance 
is  enforced  only  against  the  Chinese — so  I  am  assured  on  the  best  authority, 
and  they  only  are  fined.  But  justice  would  seem  to  demand  not  only  that 
the  law  should  be  enforced  against  all  alike,  but  that  the  owner  of  the  prop 
erty  should  be  made  liable  for  its  misuse  as  well  as  the  unfortunate  and  igno 
rant  occupants. 

The  Chinese  quarter  in  San  Francisco  consists,  for  the  most  part,  of  a  lot  of 
decayed  rookeries  which  would  put  our  own  Five  Points  to  the  blush.  The 
Chinese  live  here  very  much  as  the  Five  Points'  population  lives  in  New  York. 
And  here,  as  there,  respectable  people — or  people  at  any  rate  who  would  think 
themselves  insulted  if  you  called  their  respectability  in  question — own  these 
filthy  and  decayed  tenements ;  live  in  comfort  on  the  rent  paid  them  by  the 
Chinese;  perhaps  go  to  church  on  Sunday,  and,  no  doubt,  thank  God  that  they 
are  not  as  other  people.  It  is  very  good  to  fine  a  poor  devil  of  a  Chinaman 
because  he  lives  in  an  overcrowded  tenement;  but  what  a  stir  there  would  be 
if  some  enterprising  San  Francisco  journal  should  give  a  description  of  these 


THE  CHINESE  AS  LABORERS  AND  PRODUCERS.  143 

holes,  and  the  different  uses  they  are  put  to,  and  add  the  names  and  residences 
of  the  owners. 

California  has,  according  to  Cronise — a  good  authority — 40,000,000  acres  of 
arable  land.  It  has,  according  to  the  last  census,  560,247  people,  of  whom 
149,473  live  in  San  Francisco,  and  yet  nowhere  in  the  United  States  have  I 
heard  so  much  complaint  of  "nothing  to  do"  as  in  San  Francisco.  One  of 
the  leading  cries  of  the  demagogues  here  is  that  the  Chinese  are  crowding 
white  men  out  of  employment.  But  one  of  the  complaints  most  frequently 
heard  from  men  who  need  to  get  work  done  is  that  they  can  get  nobody  to 
do  it.  A  hundred  times  and  more,  in  my  travels  through  the  State,  I  have 
found  Chinese  serving  not  only  as  laborers,  but  holding  positions  where  great 
skill  and  faithfulness  were  required ;  and  almost  every  time  the  employer  has 
said  to  me,  "  I  would  rather,  of  course,  employ  a  white  man,  but  I  can  not  get 
one  whom  I  can  trust,  and  who  will  stick  to  his  work."  In  some  cases  this 
was  not  said,  but  the  employer  spoke  straight  out  that  he  had  tried  white 
men,  and  preferred  the  Chinese  as  more  faithful  and  painstaking,  more  ac 
curate,  and  less  eye-servants. 

A  gentleman  told  me  that  he  had  once  advertised  in  the  San  Francisco 
papers  for  one  hundred  laborers ;  his  office  was  besieged  for  three  days.  Three 
hundred  and  fifty  offered  themselves,  all  presumably  ruined  by  Chinese  cheap 
labor ;  but  all  but  a  dozen  refused  to  accept  work  when  they  heard  that  they 
were  required  to  go  "  out  of  the  city." 

The  charge  that  the  Chinese  underbid  the  whites  in  the  labor  market  is 
bosh.  When  they  first  come  over,  and  are  ignorant  of  our  language,  habits, 
customs,  and  manner  of  work,  they  no  doubt  work  cheaply ;  but  they  know 
very  accurately  the  current  rate  of  wages  and  the  condition  of  the  labor  mar 
ket,  and  they  manage  to  get  as  much  as  any  body,  or,  if  they  take  less  in  some 
cases,  it  is  because  they  can  not  do  a  full  day's  work.  It  is  a  fact,  however, 
that  they  do  a  great  deal  of  work  which  white  men  will  not  do  out  here ;  they 
do  not  stand  idle,  but  take  the  first  job  that  is  offered  them.  And  the  result 
is  that  they  are  used  all  over  the  State,  more  and  more,  because  they  chiefly, 
of  the  laboring  population,  will  work  steadily  and  keep  their  engagements. 

Moreover,  the  admirable  organization  of  the  Chinese  labor  is  an  irresistible 
convenience  to  the  farmer,  vineyardist,  and  other  employer.  "  How  do  you 
arrange  to  get  your  Chinese  ?"  I  asked  a  man  in  the  country  who  was  employ 
ing  more  than  a  hundred  in  several  gangs.  He  replied  :  "  I  have  only  to  go  or 
send  to  a  Chinese  employment  office  in  San  Francisco,  and  say  that  I  need  so 
many  men  for  such  work  and  at  such  pay.  Directly  up  come  the  men,  with 
a  foreman  of  their  own,  with  whom  alone  I  have  to  deal.  I  tell  only  him 
what  I  want  done ;  I  settle  with  him  alone ;  I  complain  to  him,  and  hold  him 
alone  responsible.  He  understands  English ;  and  this  system  simplifies  things 
amazingly.  If  I  employed  white  men  I  should  have  to  instruct,  reprove,  watch, 


144     NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


and  pay  each  one  separately;  and  of  a  hundred,  a  quarter,  at  least,  would  be 
dropping  out  day  after  day  for  one  cause  or  another.  Moreover,  with  my 
Chinese  comes  up  a  cook  for  every  twenty  men,  whom  I  pay,  and  provisions  of 
their  own  which  they  buy.  Thus  I  have  nobody  to  feed  and  care  for.  They 
do  it  themselves." 

This  is  the  reply  I  have  received  in  half  a  dozen  instances  where  I  made 
inquiry  of  men  who  employed  from  twenty-five  to  two  hundred  Chinese.  Any 
one  can  see  that,  with  such  an  organization  of  labor,  many  things  can  be  easily 
done  which  under  our  different  and  looser  system  a  man  would  not  rashly  un 
dertake.  So  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  learn,  such  a  thing  as  a  gang  of  Chinese 
leaving  a  piece  of  work  they  had  engaged  to  do,  unless  they  were  cheated  or 
ill-treated,  is  unknown.  Then  they  don't  drink  whisky.  With  all  this,  any 
one  can  see  that  they  need  riot  work  cheaply.  To  a  man  who  wants  to  get  a 
piece  of  work  done  their  systematic  ways  are  worth  a 
good  deal  of  money.  In  point  of  fact,  they  are  quick 
enough  to  demand  higher  wages. 

Of  the  population  of  California  when  the  census  of 
1870  was  taken,  49,310  were  Chinese,  54,421  were  Irish, 
29,701  were  Germans,  and  339,199  were  born  in  the 
United  States.  In  an  official  return  from  the  California 
State-prison,  the  number  of  convicts  in  1871,  the  last 
year  reported,  is  given  at  880;  of  whom  477  were  native 
born,  118  were  Chinese,  86  were  Irish,  29  were  German. 
This  gives,  of  convicts,  one  in  every  635  of  the  whole 


A    HAW-MILL   POET   <XN    1'UUET 


THE  CHINESE  AS  LABORERS  AND  PRODUCERS.  145 

population  of  the  State;   one  in  711  of  the  native  born;   one  in  417  of  the, 
Chinese;  one  in  632  of  the  Irish  born;  and  one  in  1024  of  the  Germans.    That 
is  to  say,  of  the  different  nationalities  the  Germans  contribute  the  fewest  con 
victs,  the  native  born  next,  the  Irish  next,  and  the  Chinese  the  greatest  num 
ber  proportionately. 

But  pray  bear  in  mind  the  important  fact  that  the  Chinese  here  are  almost 
entirely  grown  men ;  they  have  no  families  here,  and  but  a  small  number  of 
women,  almost  all  of  whom  are,  moreover,  prostitutes. 

If,  then,  you  would  compare  these  figures  rightly  you  would  have  to  leave 
out  of  the  count  the  women  and  children  of  all  the  other  nationalities ;  it  would, 
perhaps,  then  appear  that  the  Chinese  furnish  a  much  smaller  proportion  of 
criminals  than  the  above  figures  show;  and  this  in  spite  of  the  well-known 
fact  that  Dame  Justice  commonly  turns  a  very  cold  shoulder  toward  a  China 
man.  I  wonder  that  the  comparison  shows  so  favorably  for  them. 

It  is  said  that  they  send  money  out  of  the  country.  I  wonder  who  sends 
the  most,  the  Chinaman  or  the  white  foreigner?  If  one  could  get  at  the  sums 
remitted  to  England,  Ireland,  and  Germany,  and  those  sent  to  China,  I  don't 
know  which  would  be  the  greater. 

But  a  Chinese,  to  whom  I  mentioned  this  charge,  made  me  an  excellent 
answer.  He  said :  "  Suppose  you  work  for  me ;  suppose  I  pay  you ;  what 
business  I  what  you  do  with  money  ?  If  you  work  good  for  me,  that  all  I 
care.  No  business  my  what  you  do  your  pay."  Surely  he  was  right;  the 
Chinaman  may  send  some  part  of  his  wages  out  of  the  country,  though  not 
much,  for  he  must  eat,  must  be  clothed  and  lodged,  must  pay  railroad  and 
stage  fares,  must  smoke  opium,  and  usually  gamble  a  little.  When  all  this  is 
done,  the  surplus  of  a  Chinaman's  wages  is  not  great.  But  suppose  he  sent 
off  all  his  pay ;  he  does  not  and  can  not  send  off  the  work  he  has  done  for  it, 
the  ditches  he  has  dug,  the  levees  he  has  made,  the  meals  he  has  cooked,  and 
the  clothes  he  has  washed  and  ironed,  the  harvest  he  has  helped  to  sow  and 
gather,  and  the  vegetables  he  has  raised;  the  cigars,  and  shoes,  blankets, gloves, 
slippers,  and  other  things  he  has  made.  These  remain  to  enrich  the  country, 
to  make  abundance  where,  but  for  his  help,  there  would  be  scarcity,  or  impor 
tation  from  other  States  or  countries. 

But  lately  it  is  asserted  that  the  Chinese  have  brought  or  will  bring  the  lep 
rosy  hither.  .This  is  a  genuine  cry  of  anguish  and  terror  from  the  Hoodlums ; 
for,  bear  in  mind  that,  according  to  the  best  medical  opinion  in  the  Sandwich 
Islands,  where  this  disease  is  most  frequent  and  has  been  most  thoroughly 
studied,  it  is  communicated  only  by  cohabitation  or  the  most  intimate  associa 
tion.  If  you  ask  a  policeman  to  pilot  you  through  the  Chinese  quarter  of 
San  Francisco  between  eight  and  eleven  o'clock  any  night,  you  will  see  the 
creatures  who 'make  this  outcry.  They  are  Hoodlums,  gangs  of  whom  per 
ambulate  the  worst  alleys,  and  pass  in  and  out  of  the  vilest  kennels. 

10 


146     NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


I  was  curious  to  know  something  about  the  "Chinese  Companies"  of  which 
one  frequently  hears  here,  and  which  exercise  important  powers  over  their 
countrymen  all  over  the  State.  What  follows  concerning  these  organizations 

I  derived  from  conversation  with  sev 
eral  Chinese  who  speak  English,  and 
with  a  missionary  who  labors  among 
them. 

There  are  six  of  these  companies,  call 
ing  themselves  "  Yong  Wong,"  "  Howk 
Wah,"  "  Sam  Ynp,"  "  Yen  Wah,"  "  Kong 
Chow,"  and  "Yong  Woh."     They  are 
benevolent   societies ;    each  looks   after 
the  people  who  come  from  the  province 
or  district  for  whose  behalf  it  is  formed. 
When  a  ship  comes   into   port  with 
Chinese,  the   agents   of   the   companies 
board  it,  and  each  takes  the  names  of 
those    who    belong    to    his    province. 
These   then   come   into   the   charge   of 
their   proper    company.      That    lodges, 
and,  if  necessary,  feeds  them;   as  quick 
ly  as  possible  secures  them  employment; 
and,  if  they  are 
to  go  to   a  dis 
tant  point,  lends 
them  the  needed 
passage  -  money. 
The    company 
also     cares     for 
the  sicli,  if  they 
are   friendless 
and     without, 
means;    and     it 
sends   home  the 
bones    of    those 
who  die  here. 

Moreover,  it 
settles  all  dis 
putes  between 
Chinese,  levies 
fines  upon  of 
fenders;  and 


GATE    IIOKN,  OOLU.MIUA    UIVEH. 


THE  CHINESE  AS  LABORERS  AND  PRODUCERS.  147 

when  a  Chinaman  wishes  to  return  home,  his  company  examines  his  accounts, 
and  obliges  him  to  pay  his  just  debts  here  before  leaving. 

The  means  to  do  all  this  are  obtained  by  the  voluntary  contributions  of  the 
members,  who  are  all  who  land  at  San  Francisco  from  the  province  which  a 
company  represents. 

In  the  Canton  company, "  Sam  Yup,"  I  was  told  that  the  members  pay  seven 
dollars  each,  which  sum  is  paid  at  any  time,  but  always  before  they  go  home. 

"  Suppose  a  man  does  not  pay  ?"  I  asked  a  Chinese  who  speaks  English  very 
well.  He  replied,  "  Then  the  company  loses  it ;  but  all  who  can,  pay.  Very 
seldom  any  one  refuses." 

"  Suppose,"  said  I,  "  a  Chinaman  refuses  to  respect  the  company's  decision, 
in  case  of  a  quarrel  ?"  He  replied,  "  They  never  refuse.  It  is  their  own  com 
pany.  They  are  all  members." 

Naturally  there  are  sometimes  losses  and  a  deficit  in  the  treasury.  This  is 
made  up  by  levying  an  additional  contribution. 

"Do  the  companies  advance  money  to  bring  over  Chinese?"  "No,"  was 
the  reply,  "  the  company  has  no  money ;  it  is  not  a  business  association,  but 
only  for  mutual  aid  among  the  Chinese  here."  Nor  does  it  act  as  an  employ 
ment  office,  for  this  is  a  separate  and  very  well  organized  business.  It  sends 
home  the  bones  of  dead  men,  and  this  costs  fifteen  dollars ;  and  wherever  the 
deceased  leaves  property  or  money,  or  the  relatives  are  able  to  pay,  the  com 
pany  exacts  this  sum. 

It  is  evident  that  the  Chinese  in  California  keep  up  a  very  active  corre 
spondence  with  San  Francisco  as  well  as  with  China.  They  "keep  the  run  "of 
their  people  very  carefully;  and  the  poorer  class,  who  have  probably  gone  into 
debt  at  home  for  money  to  get  over  here,  seem  to  pay  their  debts  with  great 
honesty  out  of  their  earnings.  It  is  clear  to  me  that  the  poorer  Chinese  com 
mand  far  greater  credit  among  their  countrymen  than  our  laboring  class  usual 
ly  receives,  and  this  speaks  well  for  their  general  honesty. 

I  do  not  mean  to  hold  up  the  Chinaman  as  an  entirely  admirable  creature. 
He  has  many  excellent  traits,  and  we  might  learn  several  profitable  lessons 
from  him  in  the  art  of  organizing  labor,  and  in  other  matters.  But  he  has 
grave  vices ;  he  does  commonly,  and  without  shame,  many  things  which  we 
hold  to  be  wrong  and  disreputable ;  and,  altogether,  it  might  have  been  well 
could  we  have  kept  him  out. 

The  extent  to  which  they  carry  organization  and  administration  is  something 
quite  curious.  For  instance,  there  are  not  only  organized  bands  of  laborers, 
submitting  themselves  to  the  control  and  management  of  a  foreman  ;  benevolent 
societies,  administering  charity  and,  to  a  large  extent,  justice;  employment  so 
cieties,  which  make  advances  to  gangs  and  individuals  all  over  the  State ;  but 
there  is  in  San  Francisco  a  society  or  organization  for  the  importation  of 
prostitutes  from  China.  The  existence  of  this  organization  was  not  suspected 


148    NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  TH£  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

until  during  last  summer  some  of  its  victims  appealed  to  a  city  missionary  to 
save  them  from  a  life  of  vice.  Thereupon  suit  was  brought  by  Chinese  in  the 
courts  for  money  which  they  claimed  these  women  owed ;  and,  on  an  examina 
tion,  I  was  told,  no  attempt  was  made  to  conceal  the  fact  that  a  regularly  form 
ed  commercial  organization  was  engaged  in  either  buying  or  kidnapping  young 
women  in  China,  bringing  them  to  San  Francisco,  there  furnishing  them  cloth 
ing  and  habitations,  and  receiving  from  them  a  share  of  the  money  they 
gained  by  prostitution. 

But  the  Chinaman  is  here ;  treaty  laws  made  by  our  Government  with  his 
give  him  the  right  to  come  here,  and  to  live  here  securely.  And  this  is  to  be 
said,  that  if  we  could  to-day  expel  the  Chinese  from  California,  more  than  half 
the  capital  now  invested  there  would  be  idle  or  leave  the  State,  many  of  the 
most  important  industries  would  entirely  stop,  and  the  prosperity  of  California 
would  receive  a  blow  from  which  it  would  not  recover  for  twenty  years.  They 
are,  as  a  class,  peaceable,  patient,  ingenious,  and  industrious.  That  they  deprive 
any  white  man  of  work  is  absurd,  in  a  State  which  has  scarcely  half  a  million  of 
people,  and  which  can  support  ten  millions,  and  needs  at  least  three  millions 
to  develop  fairly  its  abundant  natural  wealth ;  and  no  matter  what  he  is,  or 
what  the  effect  of  his  presence  might  be,  it  is  shameful  that  he  should  be  mean 
ly  maltreated  and  persecuted  among  a  people  who  boast  themselves  Christian 
and  claim  to  be  civilized. 


THE  MENDOCINO  COAST  AND  CLEAR  LAKE. 


149 


CHAPTER  VI. 
THE  MENDOCINO  COAST  AND  CLEAR  LAKE— GENERAL  VIEW. 

SOME  of  the  most  picturesque  country  in  California  lies  on  or  near  the 
coast  north  of  San  Francisco.  The  coast  counties,  Marin,  Sonoma,  Men- 
docino,  Humboldt,  Klamath,  and  Del  Norte,  are  the  least  visited  by  strangers, 
and  yet,  with  Napa,  Lake,  and  Trinity,  they  make  up  a  region  which  contains 
a  very  great  deal  of  wild  and  fine  scenery,  and  which  abounds  with  game,  and 
shows  to  the  traveler  many  varieties  of  life  and  several  of  the  peculiar  indus 
tries  of  California. 

Those  who  have  passed  through  the  lovely  Napa  Valley,  by  way  of  Calis- 
toga,  to  the  Geysers,  or  who  have  visited  the  same  place  by  way  of  Healds- 
burg  and  the  pretty  Russian  River  Valley,  have  no  more  than  a  faint  idea  of 
what  a  tourist  may  see  and  enjoy  who  will  devote  two  weeks  to  a  journey 
along  the  sea-coast  of  Marin  arid  Mendocino  counties,  returning  by  way  of 
Clear  Lake  —  a  fine  sheet  of  water,  whose  borders  contain  some  remarkable 
volcanic  features. 

The  northern  coast  counties  are  made  up  largely  of  mountains,  but  imbos- 
omed  in  these  lie  many  charming  little,  and  several  quite  spacious,  valleys,  in 


150    NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

which  you  are  surprised  to  find  a  multitude  of  farmers  living,  isolated  from 
the  world,  that  life  of  careless  and  easy  prosperity  which  is  the  lot  of  farmers 
in  the  fat  valleys  of  California. 

In  such  a  journey  the  traveler  wrill  see  the  famous  redwood  forests  of  this 
State,  whose  trees  are  unequaled  in  size  except  by  the  gigantic  sequoias ;  he 
will  see  those  dairy-farms  of  Mar  in  County  whose  butter  supplies  not  only  the 
Western  coast,  but  is  sent  East,  and  competes  in  the  markets  of  New  York 
and  Boston  with  the  product  of  Eastern  dairies,  while,  sealed  hermetically  in 
glass  jars,  it  is  transported  to  the  most  distant  military  posts,  and  used  on  long 
sea-voyages,  keeping  sweet  in  any  climate  for  at  least  a  year;  he  will  see,  in 
Mendocino  County,  one  of  the  most  remarkable  coasts  in  the  world,  eaten  by 
the  ocean  into  the  most  singular  and  fantastic  shapes ;  and  on  this  coast  saw 
mills  and  logging  camps,  where  the  immense  redwood  forests  are  reduced  to 
useful  lumber  with  a  prodigious  waste  of  wood. 

He  will  see,  besides  the  larger  Napa,  Petaluma,  Bereyessa,  and  Russian 
River  valleys,  which  are  already  connected  by  railroad  with  San  Francisco,  a 
number  of  quiet,  sunny  little  vales,  some  of  them  undiscoverable  on  any  but 
the  most  recent  maps,  nestled  among  the  mountains,  unconnected  as  yet  with 
the  world  either  by  railroad  or  telegraph,  but  fertile,  rich  in  cattle,  sheep,  and 
grain,  where  live  a  people  peculiarly  Californian  in  their,  habits,  language,  and 
customs,  great  horsemen,  famous  rifle-shots,  keen  fishermen,  for  the  mountains 
abound  in  deer  and  bear,  and  the  streams  are  alive  with  trout. 

He  may  see  an  Indian  reservation — one  of  the  most  curious  examples  of  mis 
managed  philanthropy  which  our  Government  can  show.  And  finally,  the  trav 
eler  will  come  to,  and,  if  he  is  wise,  spend  some  days  on,  Clear  Lake — a  strik 
ingly  lovely  piece  of  water,  which  would  be  famous  if  it  were  not  American. 

For  such  a  journey  one  needs  a  heavy  pair  of  colored  blankets  and  an  over 
coat  rolled  up  together,  and  a  leather  bag  or  valise  to  contain  the  necessary 
change  of  clothing.  A  couple  of  rough  crash  towels  and  a  piece  of  soap  also 
should  be  put  into  the  bag ;  for  you  may  want  to  camp  out,  and  you  may  not 
always  find  any  but  the  public  towel  at  the  inn  where  you  dine  or  sleep.  Trav 
eling  in  spring,  summer,  or  fall,  you  need  no  umbrella  or  other  protection 
against  rain,  and  may  confidently  reckon  on  uninterrupted  fine  weather. 

The  coast  is  always  cool.  The  interior  valleys  are  warm,  and  during  the 
summer  quite  hot,  and  yet  the  dry  heat  does  not  exhaust  or  distress  one,  and 
cool  nights  refresh  you*  In  the  valleys  and  on  much-traveled  roads  there  is 
a  good  deal  of  dust,  but  it  is,  as  they  say,  "  clean  dirt,"  and  there  is  water 
enough  in  the  country  to  wash  it  off.  You  need  not  ride  on  horseback  unless 
you  penetrate  into  Humboldt  County,  which  has  as  yet  but  few  miles  of  wag 
on-road.  In  Mendocino,  Lake,  and  Marin,  the  roads  are  excellent,  and  either 
a  public  stage,  or,  what  is  pleasanter  and  but  little  dearer,  a  private  team,  with 
a  driver  familiar  with  the  country,  is  always  obtainable.  In  such  a  journey 


THE  MENDOCINO  COAST  AND  CLEAR  LAKE.  151 

one  element  of  pleasure  is  its  somewhat  hap-hazard  nature.  You  do  not  travel 
over  beaten  ground,  and  on  routes  laid  out  for  you ;  you  do  not  know  before 
hand  what  you  are  to  see,  nor  even  how  you  are  to  see  it;  you  may  sleep  in 
a  house  to-day,  in  the  woods  to-morrow,  and  in  a  sail-boat  the  day  after ;  you 
dine  one  day  in  a  logging'  camp,  and  another  in  a  farm-house.  With  the  ba 
rometer  at  "  set  fair,"  and  in  a  country  where  every  body  is  civil  and  obliging, 


WOOD-CHOt'PEK   AT    WORK. 

and  where  all  you  see  is  novel  to  an  Eastern  person,  the  sense  of  adventure 
adds  a  keen  zest  to  a  journey  which  is  in  itself  not  only  amusing  and  health 
ful,  but  instructive. 

Marin  County,  which  lies  across  the  bay  from  San  Francisco,  and  of  which 
the  pretty  village  of  San  Rafael  is  the  county  town,  contains  the  most  pro 
ductive  dairy-farms  in  the  State.  When  one  has  long  read  of  California  as  a 
dry  State,  he  wonders  to  find  that  it  produces  butter  at  all;  and  still  more  to 


152     NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

discover  that  the  dairy  business  is  extensive  and  profitable  enough — with  but 
ter  at  thirty-five  cents  a  pound  at  the  dairy — to  warrant  the  employment  of 
several  millions  of  capital,  and  to  enable  the  dairy-men  to  send  their  product 
to  New  York  and  Boston  for  sale. 

For  the  coast  journey  the  best  route,  because  it  shows  you  much  fine  scenery 
on  your  way,  is  by  way  of  Soucelito,  which  is  reached  by  a  ferry  from  San 
Francisco.  From  Soucelito  either  a  stage  or  a  private  conveyance  carries  you 
to  Olema,  whence  you  should  visit  Point  Reyes,  one  of  the  most  rugged  capes 
on  the  coast,  where  a  -light-house  and  fog-signal  are  placed  to  warn  and  guide 
mariners.  It  is  a  wild  spot,  often  enveloped  in  fogs,  and  where  it  blows  at 
least  half  a  gale  of  wind  three  hundred  days  in  the  year. 

Returning  from  Point  Reyes  to  Olema,  your  road  bears  you  past  Tomales 
Bay,  and  back  to  the  coast  of  Mendocino  County ;  and  by  the  time  you  reach 
the  mouth  of  Russian  River  you  are  in  the  saw-mill  country.  Here  the  road 
runs  for  the  most  part  close  to  the  coast,  and  gives  you  a  long  succession  of 
wild  and  strange  views.  You  pass  Point  Arena,  where  is  another  light-house ; 
and  finally  land  at  Mendocino  City. 

Before  the  stage  sets  you  down  at  Mendocino,  or  "  Big  River,"  you  will  have 
noticed  that  the  coast-line  is  broken  at  frequent  intervals  by  the  mouths  of 
small  streams,  and  at  the  available  points  at  the  mouths  of  these  streams  saw 
mills  are  placed.  This  continues  up  the  coast,  wherever  a  river-mouth  offers 
the  slightest  shelter  to  vessels  loading ;  for  the  redwood  forests  line  the  coast 
up  to  and  beyond  Humboldt  Bay. 

When  you  leave  the  coast  for  the  interior,  you  ride  through  mile  after  mile 
of  redwood  forest.  Unlike  the  firs  of  Oregon  and  Puget  Sound,  this  tree  does 
not  occupy  the  whole  land.  It  rears  its  tall  head  from  a  jungle  of  laurel,  ma- 
drone,  oak,  and  other  trees;  and  I  doubt  if  so  many  as  fifty  large  redwoods 
often  stand  upon  a  single  acre.  I  was  told  that  an  average  tree  would  turn 
out  about  fifteen  thousand  feet  of  lumber,  and  thus  even  thirty  such  trees  to 
the  acre  would  yield  nearly  half  a  million  feet. 

The  topography  of  California,  like  its  climate,  has  decided  features.  As 
there  are  but  two  seasons,  so  there  are  apt  to  be  sharply-drawn  differences  in 
natural  features,  and  you  descend  from  what  appears  to  you  an  interminable 
mass  of  mountains  suddenly  into  a  plain,  and  pass  from  deep  forests  shading 
the  mountain  road  at  once  into  a  prairie  valley,  which  nature  made  ready  to 
the  farmer's  hands,  taking  care  even  to  beautify  it  for  him  with  stately  and 
umbrageous  oaks.  There  are  a  number  of  such  valleys  on  the  way  which  I 
took  from  the  coast  at  Mendocino  City  to  the  Xome  Cult  Indian  Reservation, 
in  Round  Valley.  The  principal  of  these,  Little  Lake,  Potter,  and  Eden  val 
leys,  contain  from  five  to  twelve  thousand  acres;  but  there  are  a  number  of 
smaller  vales,  little  gems,  big  enough  for  one  or  two  farmers,  fertile  and  easily 
cultivated. 


THE  MENDOCINO  COAST  AND  CLEAR  LAKE.  153 

A  good  many  Missourians  and  other  Southern  people  have  settled  in  this 
pa»-t  of  the  State.  The  better  class  of  these  make  good  farmers ;  but  the  per 
son  called  "  Pike "  in  this  State  has  here  bloomed  out  until,  at  times,  he  be 
comes,  as  a  Californian  said  to  me  about  an  earthquake, "  a  little  monotonous." 

The  Pike  in  Mendocino  County  regards  himself  as  a  laboring-man,  and  in 
that  capacity  he  has  undertaken  to  drive  out  the  Indians,  just  as  a  still  lower 
class  in  San  Francisco  has  undertaken  to  drive  out  the  laboring  Chinese. 
These  Little  Lake  and  Potter  Valley  Pikes  were  ruined  by  Indian  cheap  labor ; 
so  they  got  up  a  mob  and  expelled  the  Indians,  and  the  result  is  that  the  work 
which  these  poor  people  formerly  performed  is  now  left  undone. 

As  for  the  Indians,  they  are  gathered  at  the  Round  Valley  Reservation  to 
the  number  of  about  twelve  hundred,  where  they  stand  an  excellent  chance  to 
lose  such  habits  of  industry  and  thrift  as  they  had  learned  while  supporting 
themselves.  At  least  half  the  men  on  the  reservation,  the  superintendent  told 
me,  are  competent  farmers,  and  many  of  the  women  are  excellent  and  compe 
tent  house-servants.  No  one  disputes  that  wrhile  they  supported  themselves 
by  useful  industry  in  the  valleys  where  were  their  homes  they  were  peaceable 
and  harmless,  and  that  the  whites  stood  in  no  danger  from  them.  Why,  then, 
should  the  United  States  Government  forcibly  make  paupers  of  them  ?  Why 
should  this  class  of  Indians  be  compelled  to  live  on  reservations  ? 

Under  the  best  management  which  we  have  ever  had  in  the  Indian  Bureau 
—let  us  say  under  its  present  management — a  reservation  containing  tame  or 
peaceable  Indians  is  only  a  pauper  asylum  and  prison  combined,  a  nuisance  to 
the  respectable  farmers,  whom  it  deprives  of  useful  and  necessary  laborers,  an 
injury  to  the  morals  of  the  community  in  whose  midst  it  is  placed,  an  injury 
to  the  Indian,  whom  it  demoralizes,  and  a  benefit  only  to  the  members  of  the 
Indian  ring. 

Round  Valley  is  occupied  in  part  by  the  Nome  Cult  Reservation,  and  in 
part  by  farmers  and  graziers.  In  the  middle  of  the  valley  stands  Covelo,  one 
of  the  roughest  little  villages  I  have  seen  in  California,  the  gathering-place  for 
a  rude  population,  which  inhabits  not  only  the  valley,  but  the  mountains  with 
in  fifty  miles  around,  and  which  rides  into  Covelo  on  mustang  ponies  when 
ever  it  gets  out  of  whisky  at  home  or  wants  a  spree. 

The  bar-rooms  of  Covelo  sell  more  strong  drink  in  a  day  than  any  I  have 
ever  seen  elsewhere  ;  and  the  sheep-herder,  the  vaquero,  the  hunter,  and  the 
wandering  rough,  descending  from  their  lonely  mountain  camps,  make  up  as 
rude  a  crowd  as  one  could  find  even  in  Nevada.  Being  almost  without  ex 
ception  Americans,  they  are  not  quarrelsome  in  their  cups.  I  was  told,  in 
deed,  by  an  old  resident,  that  shooting  was  formerly  common,  but  it  has  gone 
out  of  fashion,  mainly,  perhaps,  because  most  of  the  men  are  excellent  shots, 
and  the  amusement  was  dangerous.  At  any  rate,  I  saw  not  a  single  fight  or 
disturbance,  though  I  spent  the  Fourth  of  July  at  Covelo ;  and  it  was,  on  the 


154     NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

whole,  a  surprisingly  well-conducted  crowd,  in  spite  of  a  document  which  I 
picked  up  there,  and  whose  directions  were  but  too  faithfully  observed  by  a 
large  majority  of  the  transient  population.  This  was  called  a  "  toddy  time 
table,"  and  I  transcribe  it  here  from,  a  neat  gilt-edged  card  for  the  warning 
and  instruction  of  Eastern  topers. 

TODDY    TIME-TABLE. 

0  A.M.   Eye-opener.  3  P.M.  Cobbler. 

7  "     Appetizer.  4     "     Social  Drink. 

8  "     Digester.  5     "     Invigorator. 

9  "     Big  Reposer.  G     "     Solid  Straight. 

10  "     Refresher.  7  "  Chit-chat. 

11  "     Stimulant.  8  "  Fancy  Smile. 

12  M.    Ante-lunch.  9  "  Entire  Acte  (sic). 

1  P.M.  Settler.  10  "  Sparkler. 

2  "    A  la  Smythe.  11     "     Rouser. 

12  P.M.  Night-cap. 

GOOD -NIGHT. 

My  impression  is  that  this  time-table  was  not  made  for  the  latitude  of  Co- 
velo,  for  they  began  to  drink  much  earlier  than  6  A.M.  at  the  bar,  near  which  I 
slept,  and  they  left  off  later  than  midnight.  It  would  be  unjust  for  me  not 
to  add  that,  for  the  amount  of  liquor  consumed,  it  was  the  soberest  and  the 
best-natured  crowd  lever  saw.  I  would  like  to  write  "respectable"  also,  but 
it  would  be  ridiculous  to  apply  that  term  to  men  whose  every  word  almost  is 
an  oath,  and  whose  language  in  many  cases  corresponds  too  accurately  with 
their  clothes  and  persons. 

From  Round  Valley  there  is  a  "  good  enough  "  horseback  trail,  as  they  call 
it,  over  a  steep  mountain  into  the  Sacramento  Valley ;  but  a  pleasanter  jour 
ney,  and  one,  besides,  having  more  novelty,  is  by  way  of  Potter  Valley  to 
Lakeport,  on  Clear  Lake.  The  road  is  excellent ;  the  scenery  is  peculiarly 
California!!.  Potter  Valley  is  one  of  the  richest  and  also  one  of  the  prettiest 
of  the  minor  valleys  of  this  State,  and  your  way  to  Lakeport  carries  you  along 
the  shores  of  two  pleasant  mountain  lakelets — the  Blue  Lakes,  which  are  prob 
ably  ancient  craters. 

Two  days'  easy  driving,  stopping  overnight  in  Potter  Valley,  brings  you  to 
Lakeport,  the  capital  of  Lake  County,  and  the  only  town  I  have  seen  in  Cali 
fornia  where  dogs  in  the  square  worry  strangers  as  they  are  entering  the 
place.  As  the  only  hotel  in  the  town  occupies  one  corner  of  this  square,  and 
as  in  California!!  fashion  the  loungers  usually  sit  in  the  evening  on  the  sidewalk 
before  the  hotel,  the  combined  attack  of  these  dogs  occurs  in  their  view,  and 
perhaps  affords  them  a  pleasing  and  beneficial  excitement.  The  placid  and 
impartial  manner  with  which  the  landlord  himself  regards  the  contest  between 


THE  MENDOCINO  COAST  AXD  CLEAR  LAKE.  155 

the  stranger  and  the  town  dogs  will  lead  you  to  doubt  whether  his  house  is 
not  too  full  to  accommodate  another  guest,  and  whether  he  is  not  benevolently 
letting  the  dogs  spare  him  the  pain  of  refusing  you  a  night's  lodging;  but  it 
is  gratifying  to  be  assured,  when  you  at  last  reach  the  door,  that  the  dogs 
"  scarcely  ever  bite  any  body." 

Clear  Lake  is  a  large  and  picturesque  sheet  of  water,  twenty-five  miles  long 
by  about  seven  wide,  surrounded  by  mountains,  which  in  many  places  rise 
from  the  water's  edge.  At  Lakeport  you  can  hire  a  boat  at  a  very  reasonable 
price,  and  I  advise  the  traveler  to  take  his  blankets  on  board,  and  make  this 
boat  his  home  for  two  or  three  days.  He  will  get  food  at  different  farm 
houses  on  the  shore;  and  as  there  are  substantial,  good-sized  sail-boats,  he  can 
sleep  on  board  very  enjoyably.  Aside  from  its  fine  scenery,  and  one  or  two 
good  specimens  of  small  Californian  farms,  the  valley  is  remarkable  for  two 
borax  lakes  and  a  considerable  deposit  of  sulphur,  all  of  which  lie  close  to  the 
shore. 

At  one  of  the  farm-houses,  whose  owner,  a  Pennsylvanian,  has  made  himself 
a  most  beautiful  place  in  a  little  valley  hidden  by  the  mountains  which  butt 
on  the  lake,  I  saw  the  culture  of  silk  going  on  in  that  way  in  which  only,  as  I 
believe,  it  can  be  made  successful  in  California.  He  had  planted  about  twen 
ty-five  hundred  mulberry-trees,  built  himself  an  inexpensive  but  quite  sufficient 
little  cocoonery,  bought  an  ounce  and  a  half  of  eggs  for  fifteen  dollars,  and 
when  I  visited  him  had  already  a  considerable  quantity  of  cocoons,  and  had 
several  thousand  worms  then  feeding. 

It  was  his  first  attempt;  he  had  never  seen  a  cocoonery,  but  had  read  all 
the  books  he  could  buy  about  the  management  of  the  silk-worm;  and,  as  his 
grain  harvest  was  over,  he  found  in  the  slight  labor  attending  the  management 
of  these  worms  a  source  of  interest  and  delight  which  was  alone  worth  the 
cost  of  his  experiment.  But  he  is  successful  besides ;  and  his  wife  expressed 
great  delight  at  the  new  employment  her  husband  had  found,  which,  as  she 
said,  had  kept  him  close  at  home  for  about  two  months.  She  remarked  that 
all  wives  ought  to  favor  the  silk  culture  for  their  husbands ;  but  the  old  man 
added  that  some  husbands  might  recommend  it  to  their  wives. 

Certainly  I  had  no  idea  how  slight  and  pleasant  is  the  labor  attending  this 
industry  up  to  the  point  of  getting  cocoons.  If,  however,  you  mean  to  raise 
eggs,  the  work  is  less  pleasant. 

This  farmer,  Mr.  Alter,  had  chosen  his  field  of  operations  with  considerable 
shrewdness.  He  planted  his  mulberry-trees  on  a  dry  side-hill,  and  found  that 
it  did  not  hurt  his  worms  to  feed  to  them,  under  this  condition,  even  leaves 
from  the  little  shrubs  growing  in  his  nursery  rows.  His  cocoonery  was  shel 
tered  from  rude  winds  by  a  hill  and  a  wood,  and  thus  the  temperature  was 
very  equal.  He  had  no  stove  in  his  house,  the  shelves  were  quite  rough,  and 
the  whole  management  might  have  been  called  careless  if  it  were  not  successful. 


156    NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

I  believe  that  the  country  about  Clear  Lake  and  in  the  Napa  and  Sonoma 
valleys  will  be  found  very  favorable  to  the  culture  of  the  silk-worm ;  but  I 
believe  also  that  this  industry  will  not  succeed  except  where  it  is  carried  on 
by  farmers  and  their  families  in  a  small  way. 


MOUNT    HOOD,   OREGON. 


Boat  life  on  Clear  Lake  is  as  delightful  an  experience  as  a  traveler  or 
lounger  can  get  anywhere.  The  lake  is  placid ;  there  is  usually  breeze  enough 
to  sail  about ;  and  you  need  not  fear  storms  or  rainy  weather  in  the  dry 


THE  MENDOCINO  COAST  AND  CLEAR  LAKE.  157 

season.  If  it  should  fall  calm,  and  you  do  not  wish  to  be  delayed,  you  can 
always  hire  an  Indian  to  row  the  boat,  and  there  is  sufficient  to  see  on  the  lake 
to  pleasantly  detain  a  tourist  several  days,  besides  fine  fishing  and  hunting  in 
the  season,  and  lovely  views  all  the  time. 

Going  to  the  Sulphur  Banks  on  a  calm  morning,  I  hired  an  Indian  from 
a  rancheria  upon  Mr.  Alter's  farm  to  row  for  us,  and  my  Indian  proved  to  be 
a  prize.  His  name  was  Napoleon,  and  he  was  a  philosopher.  Like  his  greater 
namesake,  he  had  had  two  wives.  Of  the  first  one  he  reported  that  "  Jim 
catchee  him,"  by  which  I  was  to  understand  that  he  had  tired  of  her,  and  had 
sold  her  to  "  Jim ;"  and  he  had  now  taken  number  two,  a  moderately  pretty 
Digger  girl,  of  whom  he  seemed  to  be  uncommonly  fond.  As  he  rowed  he 
began  to  speak  of  his  former  life,  when  he  had  served  a  white  farmer. 

"  Him  die  now,"  said  Napoleon ;  adding,  in  a  musing  tone,  "  he  very  good 
man,  plenty  money;  give  Injun  money  all  time.  Him  very  good  white  man, 
that  man ;  plenty  money  all  a  time." 

Napoleon  dwelt  upon  the  wealth  of  his  favorite  white  man  so  persistently 
that  presently  it  occurred  to  me  to  inquire  a  little  further. 

"  Suppose  a  white  man  had  no  money,"  said  I,  "  what  sort  of  a  man  would 
you  think  him?" 

My  philosopher's  countenance  took  on  a,  fine  expression  of  contempt.  "  Sup 
pose  white  man  no  got  money?"  he  asked.  "  Eh  !  suppose  he  no  got  money — 
him  dam  fool !"  And  Napoleon  glared  upon  us,  his  passengers,  as  though  he 
wondered  if  either  of  us  would  venture  to  contradict  so  plain  a  proposition. 

The  sulphur  bank  is  a  remarkable  deposit  of  decomposed  volcanic  rock  and 
ashes,  containing  so  large  a  quantity  of  sulphur  that  I  am  told  that  at  the 
refining-works,  which  lie  on  the  bank  of  the  lake,  the  mass  yields  eighty  per 
cent,  of  pure  sulphur.  The  works  were  not  in  operation  when  I  was  there. 

Several  large  hot  springs  burst  out  from  the  bank,  and  gas  and  steam  escape 
with  some  violence  from  numerous  fissures.  The  deposit  looks  very  much  like 
a  similar  one  on  the  edge  of  the  Kilauea  crater,  on  the  island  of  Hawaii,  but 
is,  I  should  think,  richer  in  sulphur.  Near  the  sulphur  bank,  on  the  edge  of 
the  lake,  is  a  hot  borate  spring,  which  is  supposed  to  yield  at  times  three 
hundred  gallons  per  minute,  and  which  Professor  Whitney,  the  State  Geolo 
gist,  declares  remarkable  for  the  extraordinary  amount  of  ammoniacal  salts 
its  waters  contain — more  than  any  natural  spring  water  that  has  ever  been 
analyzed. 

There  is  abundant  evidence  of  volcanic  action  in  all  the  country  about  Clear 
Lake.  A  dozen  miles  from  Lakeport,  not  far  from  the  shore  of  the  lake,  the 
whole  mountain  side  along  which  the  stage-road  runs  is  covered  for  several 
miles  with  splinters  and  fragments  of  obsidian  or  volcanic  glass,  so  that  it  looks 
as  though  millions  of  bottles  had  been  broken  there  in  some  prodigious  revel 
ry  ;  and  where  the  road  cuts  into  the  side  of  the  mountain  you  see  the  osidian 


158     NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

lying  in  huge  masses  arid  in  boulders.  Joining  this,  and  at  one  point  inter 
rupting  it,  is  a  tract  of  volcanic  ashes  stratified,  and  the  strata  thrown  up  ver 
tically  in  some  places,  as  though  after  the  volcano  had  flung  out  the  ashes 
there  had  come  a  terrific  upheaval  of  the  earth. 

The  two  borax  lakes  lie  also  near  the  shore  of  Clear  Lake ;  the  largest  one, 
which  is  not  now  worked,  has  an  area  of  about  three  hundred  acres.  Little 
Borax  Lake  covers  only  about  thirty  acres,  and  this  is  now  worked.  The  ef 
florescing  matter  is  composed  of  carbonate  of  soda,  chloride  of  sodium,  and  bi- 
borate  of  soda.  The  object  of  the  works  is,  of  course,  to  separate  the  borax, 
and  this  is  accomplished  by  crystallizing  the  borax,  which,  being  the  least  solu 
ble  of  the  salts,  is  the  first  to  crystallize. 

The  bottom  of  the  lake  was  dry  when  I  was  there ;  it  was  covered  all  over 
with  a  white  crust,  which  workmen  scrape  up  and  carry  to  the  works,  where 
it  is  treated  very  successfully.  My  nose  was  offended  by  the  fetid  stench 
which  came  from  the  earth  when  it  was  first  put  in  the  vats  with  hot  water ; 
and  I  was  told  by  the  foreman  of  the  works  that  this  arose  from  the  immense 
number  of  flies  and  other  insects  which  fly  upon  the  lake  and  perish  in  it. 
Chinese  are  employed  as  laborers  here,  and  give  great  satisfaction ;  and  about 
eight  days  are  required  to  complete  the  operation  of  extracting  the  borax  in 
crystals. 

Earth  containing  biborate  of  lime  is  brought  to  this  place  all  the  way  from 
Wadsworth,  in  the  State  of  Nevada — a  very  great  distance,  with  several  tran 
shipments—to  be  reduced  at  these  works;  and  it  seems  that  this  can  be  more 
cheaply  done  here  than  there,  where  they  have  neither  wood  for  the  fires  nor 
soda  for  the  operation. 

Clear  Lake  is  but  twelve  hours  distant  from  Snn  Francisco;  the  journey 
thither  is  full  of  interest,  and  the  lake  itself,  with  the  natural  wonders  on  its 
shores,  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  enjoyable  spots  in  California  to  a 
tourist  who  wishes  to  breathe  fresh  mountain  air  and  enjoy  some  days  of  free, 
open-air  life. 

The  visitor  to  Clear  Lake  should  go  by  way  of  the  Xapa  Valley,  taking  stage 
for  Lakeport  at  Calistoga,  and  return  by  way  of  the  Russian  River  Valley, 
taking  the  railroad  at  Cloverdale.  Thus  he  will  see  on  his  journey  two  of  the 
richest  and  most  fertile  of  the  minor  valleys  of  California,  both  abounding 
in  fruit  and  vines  as  well  as  in  grain. 

As  there  are  two  sides  to  Broadway,  so  there  are  two  sides  to  the  Bay  of 
San  Francisco.  On  the  one  side  lies  the  fine  and  highly-cultivated  Snnta  Clara 
Valley,  filling  up  fast  with  costly  residences  and  carefully-kept  country  places. 
Opposite,  on  the  other  side  of  the  bay,  lies  the  Russian  River  Valley,  as  beau 
tiful  naturally  as  that  of  the  Santa  Clara,  and  of  which  Peteluma,  Santa  Rosa, 
Healdsburg,  and  Cloverdale  are  the  chief  towns.  It  is  a  considerable  plain, 
bounded  by  fine  hills  and  distant  mountains,  which  open  up,  as  you  pass  by 


THE  MENDOCINO  COAST  AND  CLEAR  LAKE.  159 

on  the  railroad,  numerous  pretty  reaches  of  subsidiary  vales,  where  farmers  live 
protected  by  the  projecting  hills  from  all  harsh  sea-breezes,  and  where  frost  is 
seldom  if  ever  felt. 

As  you  ascend  the  valley,  the  madrone,  one  of  the  most  striking  trees  of  Cal 
ifornia,  becomes  abundant  and  of  larger  growth,  and  its  dark-green  foliage  and 
bright  cinnamon-colored  bark  ornament  the  landscape.  The  laurel,  too,  or  Cal 
ifornia  bay-tree,  grows  thriftily  among  the  hills,  and  the  plain  and  foot-hills 
are  dotted  with  oak  and  redwood.  This  valley  is  as  yet  somewhat  thinly  peo 
pled,  but  it  has  the  promise  of  a  growth  which  will  make  it  the  equal  some 
dny  of  the  Santa  Clara,  and  the  superior,  perhaps,  of  the  Napa  Valley. 


160    NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


SPEAKING    SALMON,  COLU.MUIA   111VEB. 


CHAPTER  VII. 
AN  INDIAN  RESERVATION. 

APART  of  Round  Valley,  in  Mendocino  County,  is  set  apart  and  used  for 
an  Indian  reservation  ;  and,  under  the  present  policy  of  the  Government,  an 
attempt  has  been  made  to  gather  and  keep  all  the  Indians  of  the  northern  coast 
of  California  upon  this  reserve.  In  point  of  fact  they  are  not  nearly  all  there. 
One  thousand  and  eighty-one  men,  women,  and  children,  according  to  a  census 
recently  taken,  or  nearly  one  thousand  two  hundred  according  to  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Burchard,  the  Indian  agent,  are  actually  within  the  reservation  lines ;  and 
about  four  hundred  are  absent,  at  work  for  themselves  or  for  white  men,  but 
have  the  right  to  come  in  at  any  time  to  be  clothed  and  fed. 

Round  Valley  is  a  plain  surrounded  by  high  mountains.  The  plain  is  most 
ly  excellent  agricultural  land ;  the  mountain  slopes  are  valuable  for  grazing. 
The  reservation  contains,  it  is  said,  sixty  thousand  acres ;  but  only  a  small 
part  of  this  is  plain,  and  the  reservation  occupies  about  one-third  or  perhaps 
only  a  quarter  of  the  whole  valley.  The  remainder  is  held  by  white  farmers; 
and  there  is  a  rude  little  town,  Covelo,  in  the  centre  of  the  valley,  about  a  mile 
and  a  half  from  the  reservation  house. 


AN  INDIAN  RESERVATION.  161 

The  reservation  has  a  mill,  store-houses,  the  houses  of  the  agent  and  his 
subordinates,  two  school-houses,  and  the  huts  of  the  Indians ;  the  latter  are 
either  rough  board  one-roomed  shanties,  or  mere  wigwams  built  by  the  own 
ers  of  brush,  with  peculiar  low  entrances,  into  which  you  must  creep  on  all- 
fours.  These  they  prefer  for  summer  use,  and  I  found  that  a  number  of  the 
board-shanties  were  empty  and  the  doors  nailed  up,  their  owners  sensibly  pre 
ferring  to  live  in  brush  houses  during  the  hot  weather. 

When  I  arrived  at  the  agency  the  Indians  were  receiving  their  ration  of 
flour,  and,  as  they  gathered  in  a  great  court-yard,  I  had  an  opportunity  to  ex 
amine  them.  They  are  short,  dark-skinned,  generally  ugly,  stout,  and  were 
dressed  in  various  styles,  but  always  in  such  clothing  as  they  get  from  the 
Government ;  not  in  their  native  costume.  Among  several  hundred  women 
I  saw  not  one  even  tolerably  comely  or  conspicuously  clean  or  neat ;  but  I  saw 
several  men  very  well  dressed.  They  carried  off  their  rations  in  baskets 
which  they  make,  and  which  are  water-tight.  The  agent  or  superintendent, 
Mr.  Burchard,  very  obligingly  showed  me  through  the  camp,  and  answered 
my  questions,  and  what  follows  of  information  I  gained  in  this  way. 

The  Indian  shanties  contain  a  fire-place,  a  bed-place,  and  sometimes  a  table ; 
once  I  saw  a  small  store-room ;  and  on  the  walls  hung  dresses,  shoes,  fishing- 
nets,  and  other  property  of  the  occupants.  The  agent  pointed  out  to  me  that 
in  most  of  the  houses  there  were  bags  of  flour  and  meal  stowed  away,  and  re 
marked,  "  Whatever  they  may  say  against  the  President,  no  one  can  say  that 
he  does  not  make  the  Indians  comfortable ;"  and  it  is  true  that  I  saw  every 
where  in  the  camp  the  evidence  of  abundant  supplies  of  food  and  sufficient 
clothing  in  the  possession  of  the  Indians.  The  superintendent  said  to  me, 
"They  have  plenty  of  every  thing;  they  have  often  several  bags  of  flour  in 
the  house  at  once ;  no  man  can  say  they  are  wronged," 

The  earthern  floors  of  the  houses  were  usually  cleanly  swept ;  there  are  wells 
at  which  the  people  get  water;  the  school-houses  are  well  furnished,  and  as 
good  as  the  average  country-school,  and  the  Indians  seem  to  suffer  no  hard 
ship  of  the  merely  physical  kind.  The  agent,  Mr.  Burchard,  seems  to  be  a 
genuinely  kind  person,  simple-hearted,  and,  I  should  think,  honest;  and  his 
assistants,  whom  I  saw,  struck  me  as  respectable  men.  Indeed,  several  per 
sons  in  the  valley,  unconnected  with  the  reservation,  told  me  that  under  Mr. 
Burchard's  rule  the  Indians  were  much  better  treated  than  by  his  predecessor. 
I  suppose,  therefore,  that  I  saw  one  of  the  most  favorable  examples  of  the  res 
ervation  system. 

In  what  follows,  then,  I  criticise  the  reservation  system,  so  far,  at  least,  as 
it  applies  to  the  Indians  of  California,  and  not  the  management  at  Round  Val 
ley  ;  and  I  say  that  it  is  a  piece  of  cruel  and  stupid  mismanagement  and  waste 
for  which  there  is  no  excuse  except  in  the  ignorance  of  the  President  who 

continues  it. 

11 


162    NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

Most  of  the  Indians  of  these  northern  coast  counties,  as  well  as  those  of 
Southern  California,  have  for  some  years  been  a  valuable  laboring  force  for 
the  farmers.  They  were  employed  to  clear  land,  to  make  hay,  and  in  many 
other  avocations  about  the  farm;  they  lived  usually  in  little  rancherias,  or 
collections  of  huts,  near  the  farm-houses ;  the  women  washed  and  did  chores 
for  the  whites  about  the  houses ;  and  there  has  been,  for  at  least  half  a  dozen 
years,  no  pretense  even  that  their  presence  among  the  whites  was  danger 
ous  to  these.  Mr.  Burchard  told  me  himself  that  more  than  half  the  Indian 
men  at  Round  Valley  were  competent  farmers,  and  that  the  Indian  women 
were  used  at  the  agency  houses  as  servants,  and  made  excellent  and  compe 
tent  house-help. 

Scattered  through  Potter,  Little  Lake,  Ukiah,  and  other  valleys,  they  were 
earning  their  living,  and  a  number  of  farmers  of  that  region  have  assured  me 
that  it  was  a  serious  disadvantage  to  them  to  lose  the  help  of  these  Indians. 
Nor  was  it  even  necessary  to  speak  their  language  in  order  to  use  their  labor, 
for  the  agent  told  me  that,  of  the  Potter  Valley  tribe,  nine-tenths  speak  En 
glish  ;  of  the  Pitt  Rivers,  four-fifths ;  of  the  Little  Lakes,  two-thirds ;  of  the 
Redwoods,  three-quarters;  of  the  Concows  and  Capellos,  two-thirds.  The 
Wylackies  and  Ukies  speak  less;  they  have  been,  I  believe,  longer  on  the 
reservation.  As  I  walked  through  the  Indian  camp,  English  was  as  often 
spoken  in  my  hearing  as  Indian. 

The  removal  of  the  useful  and  self-supporting  part  of  the  Indian  popula 
tion  to  the  reservation  was  brought  about  by  means  which  are  a  disgrace  to 
the  United  States  Government.  There  is  in  all  this  northern  country  a  class 
of  mean  whites,  ignorant,  easily  led  to  evil,  and  extremely  jealous  of  what  they 
imagine  to  be  their  rights.  Among  these  somebody  fomented  a  jealousy  of 
the  Indians.  It  was  said  that  they  took  the  bread  out  of  white  men's  mouths, 
that  their  labor  interfered  with  the  white  men,  and  so  forth.  In  fact,  I  sus 
pect  that  the  Indians  were  too  respectable  for  these  mean  whites ;  and  you  can 
easily  find  people  in  California  who  say  that  it  is  to  the  interest  of  the  Indian 
Bureau  to  make  the  whites  hate  the  Indians. 

The  Indians  were  an  industrious  and  harmless  people;  even  the  squaws 
worked ;  the  Indian  men  had  learned  to  take  contracts  for  clearing  land,  weed 
ing  fields,  and  so  forth  ;  and  many  of  them  were  so  trustworthy  that  the  farm 
ers  made  them  small  advances  where  it  was  necessary.  They  were  not  turbu 
lent,  and  I  was  surprised  to  be  told  that  drunkenness  was  rare  among  them. 

After  secret  deliberations  among  the  mean  whites,  incited  by  no  one  knows 
who,  and  headed  by  the  demagogues  who  are  never  found  wanting  when  dirty 
work  is  to  be  done,  a  petition  was  sent  to  the  State  Superintendent  of  Indian 
Affairs  at  San  Francisco  for  the  removal  of  the  Indians ;  but  the  more  decent 
people  immediately  prepared  and  sent  up  a  counter-petition,  stating  the  whole 
case.  This  was  in  the  spring  of  1872. 


AN  INDIAN  RESERVATION. 


163 


I  do  not  know  the  State  Indian  agent,  but  I  am  told  that  he  hesitated,  did  not 
act,  and,  in  May  of  the  same  year,  a  mob,  without  authority  from  him  or  from 
any  body  else,  without  notice  to  the  Indians,  and  without  even  giving  these 
poor  creatures  time  to  gather  up  their  household  goods  or  to  arrange  their 
little  affairs,  drove  them  out  of  their  houses,  and  sixty  miles,  over  a  cruel  road, 
to  the  reservation. 


CHINOOK  WOMAN  AND   OUILD. 


Against  this  act  of  lawless  violence  toward  peaceable  and  self-supporting 
men  and  women,  who  are,  I  notice,  officially  called  "  the  nation's  unfortunate 
wards,"  the  proper  officer  of  the  United  States  Government,  the  Superintend 
ent  of  Indian  Affairs,  did  not  protest,  and  for  it  no  one  has  ever  been  punished. 

But  this  was  not  all.  The  Indians  being  thus  driven  out,  a  meeting  was 
called,  at  which  it  was  announced  that  if  they  dared  to  return  they  would  be 
killed  ;  and,  in  fact,  three  unfortunates,  who  ventured  back  after  some  months 
to  see  their  old  homes,  were  shot  down  in  cold  blood  ;  and,  though  the  men  are 
known  who  did  this,  for  it  no  one  has  ever  been  punished. 


164    NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

Why  should  they  be?  The  mob  was  only  carrying  out  the  prevailing  "In 
dian  policy,"  and  the  United  States  Government  looked  on  with  its  hands 
folded. 

It  happens  that  the  Indians  of  these  little  valleys  are  a  mild  race,  not  prone 
to  war.  When  the  white  settlers  first  came  to  this  region  they  lived  unmo 
lested  by  the  Indians,  who  were  numerous  then,  and  might  easily  have  "  wiped 
out,"  to  use  a  California  phrase,  the  intruding  white  men.  It  happens  that  the 
Indians  of  the  interior  are  braver  and  more  warlike ;  and,  accordingly,  among 
them  there  were  forty-five  resolute  Modocs,  unwilling  to  be  driven  to  a  reserva 
tion,  defying  the  United  States  for  half  a  year.  But  from  what  I  have  writ 
ten  one  can  see  how  the  Modoc  war  came  about ;  for  it  arose  from  an  attempt 
to  force  Captain  Jack  on  to  the  Klamath  Reservation — an  attempt  made,  not 
by  United  States  troops,  as  it  ought  to  have  been  if  it  was  to  be  done,  but  in 
their  absence,  and  by  men  who  purposely  and  carefully  kept  the  military  igno 
rant  of  what  they  intended  to  do;  for  there  exists  the  utmost  jealousy  on 
the  part  of  the  Indian  agents,  of  the  War  Department  and  the  military  au 
thorities;  and  I  repeat  that  the  removal  of  the  Modocs  was  planned  and  at 
tempted  to  be  carried  out  by  the  Indian  Bureau  officers,  they  keeping  the  mil 
itary  in  careful  ignorance  of  their  designs. 

I  do  not  say  too  much  when  I  say  that  if  General  Schofield  had  been  inform 
ed  and  consulted  beforehand,  there  would  have  been  no  Modoc  war,  and  Gen 
eral  Canby  and  Mr.  Thomas  might  have  been  alive  to-day. 

Accordingly,  these  "  unfortunate  wards  of  the  nation "  are  driven  on  the 
reservation.  If  their  agent  happens  to  be  honest  and  kindly,  like  Mr.  Bur- 
chard,  they  get  enough  to  eat  and  to  wear.  If  he  is  not,  they  do  not  fare 
quite  so  well.  Captain  Jack  said  he  was  "  tired  of  eating  horse-meat." 

But  if  you  are  a  guardian,  and  have  a  ward,  you  are  not  satisfied  if  your 
ward,  presumedly  an  ignorant  person  in  a  state  of  pupilage,  merely  has  enough 
to  eat  and  to  wear.  You  endeavor  to  form  his  manners  and  morals.  Well, 
the  Indian  camp  at  Round  Valley  is  in  a  deplorable  state  of  disorder.  No  at 
tempt  is  made  to  teach  our  wards  to  be  clean  or  orderly,  or  to  form  in  them 
those  habits  which  might  elevate,  at  least,  their  children.  The  plain  around  the 
shanties  is  full  of  litter,  and  overgrown  with  dog-fennel.  As  Mr.  Burchard, 
the  superintendent,  walked  about  with  me,  half-grown  boys  sat  on  the  grass, 
and  even  on  the  school-house  steps,  gambling  with  cards  for  tobacco,  and  they 
had  not  been  taught  manners  enough  to  rise  or  move  aside  at  the  superintend 
ent's  approach.  As  we  sat  in  the  school-house,  one,  two,  three  Indian  men 
came  in  to  prefer  a  request,  but  not  one  of  them  took  off  his  hat.  We  enter 
ed  a  cabin  and  found  a  big  he.-Indian  lying  on  his  bed.  "Are  you  sick?"  in 
quired  Mr.  Burchard,  and  the  lazy  hound,  without  offering  to  rise,  muttered 
"No;  me  lying  down." 

The  agent,  in  reply  to  my  questions,  said  that  they  gambled  a  good  deal  for 


AN  INDIAN  RESERVATION.  165 

money  and  beads  during  the  week,  but  he  had  forbidden  it  on  Sundays ;  and 
he  would  not  allow  them  to  gamble  away  their  clothing,  as  they  formerly 
did. 

There  are  about  eighty  scholars  on  the  school-list,  and  about  fifty  attend 
school.  Was  there  any  compulsion  used  ?  I  asked,  and  he  said  No.  Now 
surely  here,  if  anywhere,  one  might  begin  with  a  compulsory  school-law. 

Did  he  attempt  to  regulate  the  conduct  of  the  growing  boys  and  girls  ? 
No. 

Do  the  Indians  marry  on  the  reservation  ?  No.  One  chief  has  two  wives ; 
men  leave  their  wives,  or  change  them  as  they  please. 

What  if  children  are  born  irregularly  ?  Well,  the  reservation  feeds  and  sup 
ports  all  who  are  on  it.  Nobody  suffers. 

Are  the  women  often  diseased  ?     Yes,  nearly  all  of  them. 

Have  you  a  hospital,  or  do  you  attempt  to  isolate  those  who  are  diseased  ? 
No ;  the  families  all  take  care  of  their  sick.  The  doctor  visits  them  in  their 
shanties.  (Bear  in  mind  this  reservation  was  established,  and  has  had  In 
dians  on  it  since  1860.) 

Do  the  Indians  have  to  ask  permission  to  go  to  the  town?  No;  they  go 
when  they  please. 

Is  there  much  drunkenness  ?     No ;  singularly  little. 

Do  you  attempt  to  make  them  rise  at  any  specified  hour  in  the  morning? 
No. 

Have  you  a  list  or  roster  of  the  Indians  who  belong  on  the  reservation? 
No. 

How  many  Indians  own  horses?     I  do  not  know. 

On  Sunday  there  is  preaching;  the  audience  varies;  and  those  who  do  not 
come  to  church — where  the  preaching  is  in  English — play  shinny. 

Is  not  all  this  deplorable  ?  Here  is  a  company  of  ignorant  and  semi-barba 
rous  people,  forcibly  gathered  together  by  the  United  States  Government  (with 
the  help  of  a  mob),  under  the  pretense  that  they  are  the  "  unfortunate  wards 
of  the  nation ;"  and  the  Government  does  not  require  the  officers  it  sets  over 
them  to  control  them  in  any  single  direction  where  a  conscientious  guardian 
would  feel  bound  to  control  his  ward.  How  can  habits  of  decency,  energy, 
order,  thrift,  virtue,  grow  up — nay,  how  can  they  continue,  if  in  the  beginning 
they  existed,  with  such  management?  Captain  Jack  and  his  forty-five  Mo- 
docs  were  at  least  brave  and  energetic  men.  Can  any  one  blame  them,  if  they 
were  bored  to  desperation  by  such  a  life  as  this,  and  preferred  death  to  re 
maining  on  the  reservation  ? 

Nor  is  this  all.  Of  the  two  thousand  acres  of  arable  land  on  the  reserva 
tion,  about  five  hundred  are  kept  for  grazing,  and  one  thousand  acres  are  in 
actual  cultivation  this  year — seven  hundred  in  grain  and  hay,  one  hundred  and 
ninety-five  in  corn,  and  one  hundred  and  nine  in  vegetables.  A  farmer,  assist- 


6* 

166    NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

ant-farmer,  and  gardener  manage  this  considerable  piece  of  land.  When  they 
/  need  laborers  they  detail  such  men  or  women  as  they  require,  and  these  go 
out  to  work.  They  seldom  refuse ;  if  they  do,  they  are  sent  to  the  military 
post,  where  they  are  made  to  saw  wood.  Not  one  of  the  cabins  has  about  it 
a  garden  spot ;  all  cultivation  is  in  common ;  and  thus  the  Indian  is  deprived 
of  the  main  incentive  to  industry  and  thrift  —  the  possession  of  the  actual 
fruits  of  his  own  toil;  and,  unless  he  were  a  deep-thinking  philosopher,  who 
had  studied  out  for  himself  the  problems  of  socialism,  he  must,  in  the  nature 
of  things,  be  made  a  confirmed  pauper  and  shirk  by  such  a  system,  in  which 
he  sees  no  direct  reward  for  his  toil,  and  neither  receives  wages  nor  conscious 
ly  eats  that  which  his  own  hands  have  planted. 

In  the  whole  system  of  management,  as  I  have  described  it,  you  will  see 
that  there  is  no  reward  for,  or  incentive  to,  excellence;  it  is  all  debauching 
and  demoralizing ;  it  is  a  disgrace  to  the  Government,  which  consents  to  main 
tain  at  the  public  cost  what  is,  in  fact,  nothing  else  but  a  pauper  shop  and 
house  of  prostitution. 

And  what  is  true  of  this  reservation  is  equally  true  of  that  on  the  Tule  Riv 
er,  in  Southern  California,  which  I  saw  in  1872.  In  both,  to  sum  up  the 
story,  the  Government  has  deprived  the  farmers  of  an  important  laboring 
force  by  creating  a  pauper  asylum,  called  a  reservation ;  and,  having  thus  in 
jured  the  community,  it  further  injures  the  Indian  by  a  system  of  treatment 
which  ingeniously  takes  away  every  incentive  to  better  living,  and  abstains 
from  controlling  him  on  those  very  points  wherein  an  upright  guardian  would 
most  rigidly  and  faithfully  control  and  guide  his  ward. 

To  force  a  population  of  laboring  and  peaceable  Indians  on  a  reservation  is 
a  monstrous  blunder.  For  wild  and  predatory  or  unsettled  Indians,  like  the 
Apaches,  or  many  tribes  of  the  plains,  the  reservation  is  doubtless  the  best 
place ;  but  even  then  the  Government,  acting  as  guardian,  ought  to  control 
and  train  its  wards ;  it  ought  to  treat  them  like  children,  or  at  least  like  beasts ; 
it  ought  not  only  to  feed  and  clothe  them,  but  also  to  teach  them,  and  enforce 
upon  them  order,  neatness,  good  manners,  and  habits  of  discipline  and  steady 
labor.  This  seems  plain  enough,  but  it  will  never  be  done  by  "  Indian  agents," 
selected  from  civil  life,  be  these  ministers  or  laymen. 

An  army  officer,  methodical,  orderly,  and  having  the  habit  of  command,  is 
the  proper  person  for  superintendent  of  a  reservation ;  for  drill  and  discipline, 
regular  hours,  regular  duties,  respectful  manners,  cleanliness,  method — these 
are  the  elements  of  civilization  that  are  needed,  and  which  an  army  officer 
knows  how  to  impress  without  harshness,  because  they  are  the  essence  of  his 
own  life.  But  under  our  present  Indian  policy  the  army  is  the  mere  servant 
of  the  Indian  agent.  If  it  were  not  for  the  small  military  force  at  Camp 
Wright,  Mr.  Burchard,  the  agent,  could  not  keep  an  Indian  on  his  reservation. 
But  the  intelligent,  thoroughly-trained,  and  highly-educated  soldier  who  com- 


AN  INDIAN  RESERVATION.  167 

mands  there  has  neither  authority  nor  influence  at  the  reservation.  He  is  a 
mere  policeman,  to  whom  an  unruly  Indian  is  sent  for  punishment,  and  who 
goes  out  at  the  command  of  the  superintendent,  a  person  in  every  way  his 
inferior  except  in  authority,  to  catch  Indians  when  no  mob  is  at  hand  to  drive 
them  in. 

A  true  and  humane  Indian  policy  would  be  to  require  all  peaceable  Indians 
to  support  themselves  as  individuals  and  families  among  the  whites,  which 
would  at  once  abolish  the  Round  Valley  and  Tule  River  reservations ;  to 
place  all  the  nomads  on  reservations,  under  the  control  of  picked  and  intelli 
gent  army  officers,  and  to  require  these  to  ignore,  except  for  expediency's 
sake,  all  tribal  distinctions  and  the  authority  of  chiefs ;  to  form  every  reserva 
tion  into  a  military  camp,  adopting  and  maintaining  military  discipline,  though 
not  the  drill,  of  course;  to  give  to  every  Indian  family  an  acre  of  ground 
around  its  hut,  and  require  it  to  cultivate  that,  demanding  of  the  male  Indians 
at  the  same  time  two  or  three  days  of  labor  every  week  in  the  common  fields, 
or  on  roads  and  other  public  improvements  within  the  reservation  during  the 
season  when  no  agricultural  labor  is  required ;  to  curb  their  vices,  as  a  parent 
would  those  of  his  children ;  to  compel  the  young  to  attend  schools ;  to  insist 
upon  a  daily  morning  muster,  and  a  daily  inspection  of  the  houses  and  grounds ; 
to  establish  a  hospital  for  the  sick ;  and  thus  gradually  to  introduce  the  Indian 
to  civilization  by  the  only  avenue  open  to  savages — by  military  discipline. 

Under  such  a  system  a  reserve  like  that  of  Round  Valley  would  not  to-day, 
after  thirteen  years  of  occupation,  be  a  mass  of  weeds  and  litter,  with  bad 
roads,  poor  fences,  and  an  almost  impassable  corduroy  bridge  over  a  little 
ditch.  On  the  contrary,  in  half  the  time  it  would  be  a  model  of  cleanliness 
and  order;  it  would  have  the  best  roads,  the  neatest  cottages,  the  cleanest 
grounds,  the  most  thorough  culture ;  and  when  the  Indians  had  produced  this 
effect,  they  would  not  fail  to  be  in  love  with  it. 

Nor  is  it  impossible  to  do  all  this  with  Indians.  But  it  needs  men  used  to 
command,  well  educated,  and  with  habits  of  discipline — the  picked  men  of  the 
army.  At  present,  an  Indian  reservation  differs  from  an  Indian  rancheria  or 
village  only  in  that  it  contains  more  food,  more  vice,  and  more  lazy  people. 


168     NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


VIEW   ON   THE   OOLUM1HA    KIVEK. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  REDWOODS  AND  THE  SAW-MILL  COUNTRY  OF  MENDOCINO. 

O  OME  years  ago,  before  there  was  a  wagon-road  between  Cloverdale  and 
^  Mendocino  City,  or  Big  River,  as  it  is  more  commonly  called  up  here  on 
the  northern  coast,  the  mail  was  carried  on  horse — or,  more  usually,  on  mule — 
back ;  and  the  mail-rider  was  caught,  on  one  stormy  and  dark  night,  upon  the 
road,  and  found  himself  unable  to  go  farther.  In  this  dilemma  he  took  refuge, 
with  his  mule  and  the  United  States  mails,  in  a  hollow  redwood,  and  man 
and  mule  lay  down  comfortably  within  its  shelter.  They  had  room  to  spare 
indeed,  as  I  saw  when  the  stage-driver  pointed  out  the  tree  to  me  and  kindly 
stopped  until  I  examined  it. 

At  a  road-side  inn  I  found  they  had  roofed  over  a  hollow  stump,  and  used 
it  as  a  capacious  store-room. 

All  these  were  large  trees,  of  course;  but  there  is  no  reason  to  believe  that 
they  were  the  biggest  of  their  kind;  and  when  you  have  traveled  for  two  or 


THE  REDWOODS  AND  THE  SAW-MILL  COUNTRY.  169 

three  days  through  the  redwood  forests  of  the  northern  coast  of  California 
you  will  scarcely  be  surprised  at  any  story  of  big  trees. 

The  redwood  seems  to  be  found  only  near  the  coast  of  California ;  it  needs 
the  damp  air  which  comes  from  the  sea  and  which  blows  against  the  mountain 
slopes,  which  the  tree  loves.  The  coast,  from  fifty  miles  north  of  San  Francis 
co  to  the  northern  border  of  Humboldt  County,  is  a  dense  redwood  forest ;  it 
is  a  mountainous  and  broken  country,  and  the  mountains  are  cut  at  frequent 
intervals  by  streams,  some  but  a  few  miles  in  length,  others  penetrating  into 
the  interior  by  narrow  canons  forty  or  fifty  miles,  and  dividing  in  their  upper 
waters  into  several  branches. 

The  man  who  wondered  at  the  wisdom  of  Providence  in  causing  great  rivers 
to  flow  past  large  cities  would  be  struck  with  admiration  at  the  convenient 
outflow  of  these  streams ;  for  upon  them  depends  the  accessibility  of  the  red 
wood  forests  to  the  loggers  and  saw-mill  men  who  are  busily  turning  these 
forests  into  lumber.  At  the  mouth  of  every  stream  is  placed  a  saw-mill;  and 
up  these  little  rivers,  many  of  which  would  hardly  aspire  to  the  dignity  of 
creeks  in  Missouri  or  Mississippi,  loggers  are  busy  chopping  down  huge  trees, 
sawing  them  into  lengths,  and  floating  them  down  to  the  mills. 

The  redwood  has  the  color  of  cedar,  but  not  its  fragrance ;  it  is  a  soft  wood, 
unfit  for  ship -building,  but  easily  wrorked  and  extraordinarily  durable.  It  is 
often  used  in  California  for  water-pipes,  and  makes  the  best  fence  posts,  for 
it  never  rots  below  ground.  Moreover,  it  is  excellent  material  for  houses. 
When  varnished,  it  keeps  its  fine  red  color,  but  without  this  protection  it  slow 
ly  turns  black  with  exposure  to  the  air.  It  is  a  most  useful  lumber,  and  forms 
a  not  unimportant  part  of  the  natural  wealth  of  California. 

The  saw-mills  are  mostly  on  so  large  a  scale  that  about  every  one  grows 
up  a  village  or  town,  which  usually  contains  several  saloons  or  grog-shops, 
one  or  two  billiard-rooms,  a  rude  tavern  or  two,  a  doctor  or  two,  several 
stores,  and,  in  some  cases,  a  church.  There  are,  besides,  the  houses  of  those 
mill-men  who  have  families,  shanties  for  the  bachelors,  and  usually  one  or 
two  houses  of  greater  pretensions,  inhabited  by  the  owners  or  local  superin 
tendents. 

Not  easily  accessible,  these  little  saw-mill  ports  are  rarely  visited  by  stran 
gers,  and  the  accommodations  are  somewhat  rude ;  but  the  people  are  kindly, 
and  the  country  is  wonderfully  picturesque,  and  well  repays  a  visit. 

The  absolute  coast  is  almost  barren,  by  reason  of  the  harsh,  strong  winds 
which  prevail  during  the  greater  part  of  the  year.  The  redwood  forests  be 
gin  a  mile  or  two  back  from  the  sea.  The  climate  of  this  part  of  the  coast  is 
remarkably  equal,  cool  but  not  cold,  all  the  year  round ;  they  have  fires  in  the 
evening  in  July,  and  don't  shut  their  doors,  except  in  a  storm,  in  December. 
They  wTear  the  same  clothing  all  the  year  round,  and  seldom  have  frost.  But 
when  you  get  out  of  the  reach  of  the  sea,  only  a  mile  back,  you  find  hot 


170    NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

weather  in  July  j  and  in  winter  they  have  snow,  quite  deep  sometimes,  in  the 
redwoods. 

Where  the  little  saw-mill  rivers  enter  the  sea,  there  is  usually  a  sort  of  road 
stead — a  curve  of  the  shore,  not  enough  to  make  a  harbor,  but  sufficient  to 
give  anchorage  and  a  lee  from  the  prevailing  north-west  wind,  which  makes 
it  possible,  by  different  devices,  to  load  vessels.  There  are  rivers  in  Humboldt 
County  where  nature  has  not  provided  even  this  slight  convenience,  and  there 
— it  being  impossible  to  ship  the  lumber — no  saw-mills  have  been  established. 

Vessels  are  frequently  lost,  in  spite  of  all  precautions ;  for,  when  the  wind 
changes  to  south-west,  the  whole  Pacific  Ocean  rolls  into  these  roadsteads; 
and,  when  a  gale  is  seen  approaching,  the  crews  anchor  their  ships  as  securely 
as  they  can,  and  then  go  ashore.  It  has  happened  in  Mendocino  harbor,  that 
a  schooner  has  been  capsized  at  her  anchorage  by  a  monstrous  sea ;  and  Cap 
tain  Lansing  told  me  that  in  the  last  twenty  years  he  had  seen  over  a  hundred 
persons  drowned  in  that  port  alone,  in  spite  of  all  precautions. 

The  waves  have  cut  up  the  coast  in  the  most  fantastic  manner.  It  is  rock- 
bound,  and  the  rock  seems  to  be  of  varying  hardness,  so  that  the  ocean,  trying 
every  square  inch  every  minute  of  the  day  for  thousands  of  years,  has  eaten 
out  the  softer  parts,  and  worked  out  the  strangest  caverns  and  passages.  You 
scarcely  see  a  headland  or  projecting  point  through  which  the  sea  has  not 
forced  a  passage,  whose  top  exceeds  a  little  the  mark  of  high  tide ;  and  there 
are  caves  innumerable,  some  with  extensive  ramifications.  I  was  shown  one 
such  cave  at  Mendocino  City,  into  which  a  schooner,  drifting  from  her  an 
chors,  was  sucked  during  a  heavy  sea.  As  she  broke  from  her  anchors  the 
men  hoisted  sail,  and  the  vessel  was  borne  into  the  cave  with  all  sail  set.  Her 
masts  were  snapped  off  like  pipe -stems,  and  the  hull  was  jammed  into  the 
great  hole  in  the  rock,  where  it  began  to  thump  with  the  swell  so  vehement 
ly  that  two  of  the  frightened  crew  were  at  once  crushed  on  the  deck  by  the 
overhanging  ceiling  of  the  cave.  Five  others  hurriedly  climbed  out  over  the 
stern,  and  there  hung  on  until  ropes  were  lowered  to  them  by  men  on  the  cliff 
above,  who  drew  them  up  safely.  It  was  a  narrow  escape ;  and  a  more  terri 
fying  situation  than  that  of  this  crew,  as  they  saw  their  vessel  sucked  into  a 
cave  whose  depth  they  did  not  know,  can  hardly  be  imagined  outside  of  a  hash 
eesh  dream.  The  next  morning  the  vessel  was  so  completely  broken  to  pieces 
that  not  a  piece  the  size  of  a  man's  arm  was  ever  found  of  her  hull. 

I  suppose  all  saw-mills  are  pretty  much  alike ;  those  on  this  coast  not  only 
saw  lumber  of  different  shapes  and  sizes,  but  they  have  also  planing  and  fin 
ishing  apparatus  attached ;  and  in  some  the  waste  lumber  is  worked  up  with 
a  good  deal  of  care  and  ingenuity.  But  in  many  of  the  mills  there  is  great 
waste.  It  is  probably  a  peculiarity  of  the  saw-mills  on  this  coast,  that  they 
must  provide  a  powerful  rip-saw  to  rip  in  two  the  larger  logs  before  they  are 
small  enough  for  a  circular  saw  to  manage.  Indeed,  occasionally  the  huge  logs 


THE  REDWOODS  AND  THE  SAW-MILL  COUNTRY. 


171 


LUMBERING   IN   WASHINGTON    TERRITORY — PREPARING  LOGS. 

are  split  with  wedges,  or  blown  apart  with  gunpowder,  in  the  logging  camps, 
because  they  are  too  vast  to  be  floated  down  to  the  mill  in  one  piece.  The  ex 
pedients  for  loading  vessels  are  often  novel  and  ingenious.  For  instance,  at 
Mendocino  the  lumber  is  loaded  on  cars  at  the  mill,  and  drawn  by  steam  up  a 
sharp  incline,  and  by  horses  off  to  a  point  which  shelters  and  affords  anchorage 
for  schooners.  This  point  is,  perhaps,  one  hundred  feet  above  the  water-line, 


172    NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

and  long  wire-rope  stages  are  projected  from  the  top,  and  suspended  by  heavy 
derricks.  The  car  runs  to  the  edge  of  the  cliff;  the  schooner  anchors  under 
the  shipping  stage  one  hundred  feet  below,  and  the  lumber  is  slid  down  to  her, 
a  man  standing  at  the  lower  end  to  check  its  too  rapid  descent  with  a  kind  of 
brake.  When  a  larger  vessel  is  to  be  loaded,  they  slide  the  lumber  into  a 
lighter,  and  the  ship  is  loaded  from  her.  The  redwood  is  shipped  not  only  to 
California  ports,  but  also  to  China  and  South  America;  and  while  I  was  at 
Mendocino,  a  bark  lay  there  loading  for  the  Navigator  Islands. 

A  large  part  of  the  lumbering  population  consists  of  bachelors,  and  for  their 
accommodation  you  see  numerous  shanties  erected  near  the  saw- mills  and 
lumber  piles.  At  Mendocino  City  there  is  quite  a  colony  of  such  shanties,  two 
long  rows,  upon  a  point  or  cape  from  which  the  lumber  is  loaded. 

I  had  the  curiosity  to  enter  one  of  these  little  snuggeries,  which  was  unoc 
cupied.  It  was  about  ten  by  twelve  feet  in  area,  had  a  large  fire-place  (for  fuel 
is  shamefully  abundant  here),  a  bunk  for  sleeping,  with  a  lamp  arranged  for 
reading  in  bed,  a  small  table,  hooks  for  clothes,  a  good  board  floor,  a  small  win 
dow,  and  a  neat  little  hood  over  the  door-way,  which  gave  this  little  hut  quite 
a  picturesque  effect.  There  was,  besides,  a  rough  bench  and  a  small  table. 

It  seemed  to  me  that  in  such  a  climate  as  that  of  Mendocino,  where  they 
wear  the  same  clothes  all  the  year  round,  have  evening  fires  in  July,  and  may 
keep  their  doors  open  in  January,  such  a  little  kennel  as  this  meets  all  the  real 
wants  of  the  male  of  the  human  race. 

This,  I  suspect,  is  about  as  far  as  man,  unaided  by  woman,  would  have  car 
ried  civilization  anywhere.  Whatever  any  of  us  have  over  and  above  such  a 
snuggery  as  this  we  owe  to  womankind ;  whatever  of  comfort  or  elegance  we 
possess,  woman  has  given  us,  or  made  us  give  her.  I  think  no  wholesome, 
right-minded  man  in  the  world  would  ever  get  beyond  such  a  hut ;  and  I  even 
suspect  that  the  occupant  of  the  shanty  I  inspected  must  have  been  in  love, 
and  thinking  seriously  of  marriage,  else  he  would  neVer  have  nailed  the  pretty 
little  hood  over  his  door-way.  So  helpless  is  man  !  And  yet  there  are  people 
who  would  make  of  woman  only  a  kind  of  female  man ! 

As  you  travel  along  the  coast,  the  stage-road  gives  you  frequent  and  sat 
isfactory  views  of  its  curiously  distorted  and  ocean-eaten  caves  and  rocks.  It 
has  a  dangerous  and  terrible  aspect,  no  doubt,  to  mariners,  but  it  is  most  .won 
derful,  viewed  from  the  shore.  At  every  projection  you  see  that  the  waves 
have  pierced  and  mined  the  rock ;  if  the  sea  is  high,  you  will  hear  it  roar  in 
the  caverns  it  has  made,  and  whistle  and  shriek  wherever  it  has  an  outlet -.above 
through  which  the  waves  may  force  the  air. 

The  real  curiosity  of  this  region  is  a  logging  camp.  The  redwood  country 
is  astonishingly  broken ;  the  mountain  sides  are  often  almost  precipitous ;  and 
on  these  steep  sides  the  redwood  grows  tall  and  straight  and  big  beyond  the 
belief  of  an  Eastern  man.  The  trees  do  not  occupy  the  whole  ground,  but 


THE  REDWOODS  AND  THE  SAW-MILL  COUNTRY. 


173 


share  it  with  lau 
rels,  dogwood,  a 
worthless  kind  of 
oak,  occasionally 


pine, 


and    smaller 


i 


^JKSS.'"'"*^ 


VICTORIA   IIAKBOE,   VANOOUVEK'8   ISLAND. 


wood.  It  is  a 
kind  of  jungle; 
and  the  loggers, 
when  they  have 
felled  a  number 
of  trees,  set  fire  to 
the  brush  in  order 
to  clear  the  ground 
before  they  at 
tempt  to  draw  the 
logs  to  the  water,  i  ^~  -  -~~T&*-  '  .„  -.< 

°  f&&£%!i£*«$^f£ 

A  logging  camp 

is  an  assemblage  of  rude  redwood  shan 
ties,  gathered  about  one  larger  shanty, 
which  is  the  cook-house  and  dining-hall, 
and  where  usually  two  or  three  China 
men  are  at  work  over  the  stove,  and  set 
ting  the  table.  The  loggers  live  well  ; 

they  have  excellent  bread,  meat,  beans,  butter,  dried  apples,  cakes,  pies,  and 
pickles  ;  in  short,  I  have  dined  in  worse  places. 

A  camp  is  divided  into  "  crews  ;"  a  crew  is  composed  of  from  twenty  to 
twenty-six  men,  who  keep  one  team  of  eight  or  ten  oxen  busy  hauling  the  logs 
to  water. 

A  "crew"  consists  of  teamsters,  choppers,  chain-tenders,  jack-screw  men 
(for  these  logs  are  too  heavy  to  be  moved  without  such  machinery),  swamp 
ers,  who  build  the  roads  over  which  the  logs  are  hauled,  sawyers,  and  barkers. 
A  teamster,  I  was  told,  receives  seventy  dollars  per  month,  a  chopper  fifty  dol 
lars,  chain-tenders  and  jack-screw  men  the  same,  swampers  forty-five  dollars, 
sawyers  forty  dollars,  and  barkers,  who  are  usually  Indians,  one  dollar  a  day 
and  board  besides,  for  all.  The  pay  is  not  bad,  and  as  the  chances  to  spend 
money  in  a  logging  camp  are  not  good,  many  of  the  men  lay  up  money,  and 
by-and-by  go  to  farming  or  go  home.  They  work  twelve  hours  a  day. 

A  man  in  Humboldt  County  got  out  of  one  redwood  tree  lumber  enough  to 
make  his  house  and  barn,  and  to  fence  in  two  acres  of  ground. 

A  schooner  was  filled  with  shingles  made  from  a  single  tree. 

One  tree  in  Mendocino,  whose  remains  were  shown  to  me,  made  a  mile  of 
railroad  ties. 


174    NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

Trees  fourteen  feet  in  diameter  have  been  frequently  found  and  cut  down ; 
the  saw-logs  are  often  split  apart  with  wedges,  because  the  entire  mass  is  too 
large  to  float  in  the  narrow  and  shallow  streams ;  and  I  have  even  seen  them 
blow  a  log  apart  with  gunpowder. 

A  tree  four  feet  in  diameter  is  called  undersized  in  these  woods;  and  so 
skillful  are  the  wood -choppers  that  they  can  make  the  largest  giant  of  the 
forest  fall  just  where  they  want  it,  or,  as  they  say,  they  "drive  a  stake  with 
the  tree." 

To  chop  down  a  redwood-tree,  the  chopper  does  not  stand  on  the  ground, 
but  upon  a  stage  sometimes  twelve  feet  above  the  ground.  Like  the  sequoia, 
the  redwood  has  a  great  bulk  near  the  ground,  but  contracts  somewhat  a  few 
feet  above.  The  chopper  wants  only  the  fair  round  of  the  tree,  and  his  stage 
is  composed  of  two  stout  staves,  shod  with  a  pointed  iron  at  one  end,  which 
is  driven  into  the  tree.  The  outer  ends  are  securely  supported ;  and  on  these 
staves  he  lays  two  narrow,  tough  boards,  on  which  he  stands,  and  which  spring 
at  every  blow  of  his  axe.  It  will  give  you  an  idea  of  the  bulk  of  these  trees, 
when  I  tell  you  that  in  chopping  down  the  larger  ones  two  men  stand  on  the 
stage  and  chop  simultaneously  at  the  same  cut,  facing  each  other. 

They  first  cut  off  the  bark,  which  is  from  four  to  ten,  and  often  fifteen  inches 
thick.  This  done,  they  begin  what  is  called  the  "undercut" — the  cut  on  that, 
side  toward  which  the  tree  is  meant  to  fall ;  and  when  they  have  made  a  little 
progress,  they,  by  an  ingenious  and  simple  contrivance,  fix  upon  the  proper 
direction  of  the  cut,  so  as  to  make  the  tree  fall  accurately  where  they  want  it. 
This  is  necessary,  on  account  of  the  great  length  and  weight  of  the  trees,  and 
the  roughness  of  the  ground,  by  reason  of  which  a  tree  carelessly  felled  may  in 
its  fall  break  and  split  into  pieces,  so  as  to  make  it  entirely  worthless.  This 
happens  not  unfrequently,  in  spite  of  every  care. 

So  skillful  are  they  in  giving  to  the  tree  its  proper  direction  that  they  are 
able  to  set  a  post  or  stake  in  the  ground  a  hundred  feet  or  more  from  the  root 
of  the  tree,  and  drive  it  down  by  felling  the  tree  on  top  of  it. 

"  Can  you  really  drive  a  stake  with  a  tree  ?"  I  asked,  and  was  answered, 
"  Of  course,  we  do  it  every  day." 

The  "  under-cut "  goes  in  about  two-thirds  the  diameter.  When  it  is  finished 
the  stage  is  shifted  to  the  opposite  side,  and  then  it  is  a  remarkable  sight  to  see 
the  tall,  straight  mass  begin  to  tremble  as  the  axe  goes  in.  It  usually  gives  a 
heavy  crack  about  fifteen  minutes  before  it  means  to  fall.  The  chopper  there 
upon  gives  a  warning  shout,  so  that  all  may  stand  clear — not  of  the  tree,  for 
he  knows  very  well  where  that  will  go,  and  in  a  cleared  space  men  will  stand 
within  ten  feet  of  where  the  top  of  a  tree  is  to  strike,  and  watch  its  fall;  his 
warning  is  against  the  branches  of  other  trees,  which  are  sometimes  torn  off 
and  flung  to  a  distance  by  the  falling  giant,  and  which  occasionally  dash  out 
men's  brains. 


THE  REDWOODS  AND  THE  SAW-MILL  COUNTRY.  175 

At  last  the  tree  visibly  totters,  and  slowly  goes  over;  and  as  it  goes  the 
chopper  gets  off  his  stage  and  runs  a  few  feet  to  one  side.  Then  you  hear  and 
see  one  of  the  grandest  and  most  majestic  incidents  of  forest  life.  There  is  a 
sharp  crack,  a  crash,  and  then  a  long,  prolonged,  thunderous  crash,  which,  when 
you  hear  it  from  a  little  distance,  is  startlingly  like  an  actual  and  severe  thun 
der-peal.  To  see  a  tree  six  feet  in  diameter,  and  one  hundred  and  seventy-five 
feet  high,  thus  go  down,  is  a  very  great  sight,  not  soon  forgotten. 

The  choppers  expressed  themselves  as  disappointed  that  they  could  not  just 
then  show  me  the  fall  of  a  tree  ten  or  twelve  feet  in  diameter,  and  over  two 
hundred  feet  high.  In  one  logging  camp  I  visited  there  remained  a  stump 
fourteen  feet  high.  At  this  height  the  tree  was  fourteen  feet  in  diameter, 
perfectly  round  and  sound,  and  it  had  been  sawn  into  seventeen  logs,  each 
twelve  feet  long.  The  upper  length  was  six  feet  in  diameter.  Probably  the 
tree  was  three  hundred  feet  long,  for  the  top  for  a  long  distance  is  wasted. 

So  many  of  the  trees  and  so  many  parts  of  trees  are  splintered  or  broken 
in  the  fall,  that  the  master  of  a  logging  camp  told  me  he  thought  they  wasted 
at  least  as  much  as  they  saved ;  and  as  the  mills  also  waste  a  good  deal,  it  is 
probable  that  for  every  foot  of  this  lumber  that  goes  to  market  two  feet  are 
lost.  A  five-foot  tree  occupies  a  chopper  from  two  and  a  half  to  three  and 
a  half  hours,  and  to  cut  down  a  tree  eight  feet  in  diameter  is  counted  a  day's 
work  for  a  man. 

When  the  tree  is  down  the  sawyers  come.  Each  has  a  long  saw ;  he  re 
moves  the  bark  at  each  cut  with  an  axe,  and  then  saws  the  tree  into  lengths. 
It  is  odd  enough  to  go  past  a  tree  and  see  a  saw  moving  back  and  forward 
across  its  diameter  without  seeing  the  man  who  moves  it,  for  the  tree  hides 
him  completely  from  you,  if  you  are  on  the  side  opposite  him.  Then  come 
the  barkers,  with  long  iron  bars  to  rip  off  the  thick  bark ;  then  the  jack-screw 
men,  three  or  four  of  whom  move  a  log  about  easily  and  rapidly  which  a  hun 
dred  men  could  hardly  budge.  They  head  it  in  the  proper  direction  for  the 
teamsters  and  chain-men,  and  these  then  drag  it  down  to  the  water  over  roads 
which  are  watered  to  make  the  logs  slide  easily ;  and  then,  either  at  high  tide 
or  during  the  winter  freshets,  the  logs  are  run  down  to  the  mill. 

The  Maine  men  make  the  best  wood-choppers,  but  the  logging  camp  is  a 
favorite  place  also  for  sailors ;  and  I  was  told  that  Germans  are  liked  as  work 
men  about  timber.  The  choppers  grind  their  axes  once  a  week — usually,  I 
was  told,  on  Sunday — and  all  hands  in  a  logging  camp  work  twelve  hours  a 
day. 

The  Government  has  lately  become  very  strict  in  preserving  the  timber  on 
Congress  land,  which  was  formerly  cut  at  random,  and  by  any  body  who  chose. 
Government  agents  watch  the  loggers,  and  if  these  are  anywhere  caught  cut 
ting  timber  on  Congress  land  their  rafts  are  seized  and  sold.  At  present  prices, 
it  pays  to  haul  logs  in  the  redwood  country  only  about  half  a  mile  to  water; 


176     NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

all  trees  more  distant  than  this  from  a  river  are  not  cut ;  but  the  rivers  are  in 
many  places  near  each  other,  and  the  belt  of  timber  left  standing,  though  con 
siderable,  is  not  so  great  as  one  would  think. 

Redwood  lumber  has  one  singular  property  —  it  shrinks  endwise,  so  that 
where  it  is  used  for  weather  -  boarding  a  house,  one  is  apt  to  see  the  butts 
shrunk  apart.  I  am  told  that  across  the  grain  it  does  not  shrink  perceptibly. 

Accidents  are  frequent  in  a  logging  camp,  and  good  surgeons  are  in  demand 
in  all  the  saw-mill  ports,  for  there  is  much  more  occasion  for  surgery  than  for 
physic.  Men  are  cut  with  axes,  jammed  by  logs,  and  otherwise  hurt,  one  of 
the  most  serious  dangers  arising  from  the  fall  of  limbs  torn  from  standing 
trees  by  a  falling  one.  Often  such  a  limb  lodges  or  sticks  in  the  high  top  of 
a  tree  until  the  wind  blows  it  down,  or  the  concussion  of  the  wood -cutter's 
axe,  cutting  down  the  tree,  loosens  it.  Falling  from  such  a  height  as  two 
hundred  or  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet,  even  a  light  branch  is  dangerous,  and 
men  sometimes  have  their  brains  dashed  out  by  such  a  falling  limb. 

When  you  leave  the  coast  for  the  interior,  you  ride  through  mile  after  mile 
of  redwood  forest.  Unlike  the  firs  of  Oregon  and  Puget  Sound,  this  tree  does 
not  occupy  the  whole  land.  It 'rears  its  tall  head  from  a  jungle  of  laurel, 
madrone,  oak,  and  other  trees ;  and  I  doubt  if  so  many  as  fifty  large  redwoods 
often  stand  upon  a  single  acre.  I  was  told  that  an  average  tree  would  turn 
out  about  fifteen  thousand  feet  of  lumber,  and  thus  even  thirty  such  trees  to 
the  acre  would  yield  nearly  half  a  million  feet. 


DAIRY-FARMING  IN  CALIFORNIA. 


177 


^C^. 

POBT  TO\V.NSE;SDj  WASHINGTON    TEKBITOEY. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

DAIRY-FARMING  IN  CALIFORNIA. 

great  valleys  of  California  do  not  produce  ranch  butter,  and  probably 
never  will,  though  I  am  told  that  cows  fed  on  alfalfa,  which  is  a  kind  of 
lucerne,  yield  abundant  and  rich  milk,  and,  when  small  and  careful  farming 
comes  into  fashion  in  this  State,  there  is  no  reason  why  stall-fed  cows  should 
not  yield  butter,  even  in  the  San  Joaquin  or  Sacramento  valleys.  Indeed,  with 
irrigation  and  stall-feeding,  as  one  may  have  abundance  of  green  food  all  the 
year  round  in  the  valleys,  there  should  be  excellent  opportunity  for  butter- 
making. 

But  it  is  not  necessary  to  use  the  agricultural  soil  for  dairy  purposes.  In 
the  foot-hills  of  the  Sierras,  and  on  the  mountains,  too,  for  a  distance  of  more 
than  a  hundred  miles  along  and  near  the  line  of  the  railroad,  there  is  a  great 
deal  of  country  admirably  fitted  for  dairying,  and  where  already  some  of  the 
most  prosperous  butter  ranchos,  as  they  call  them  here,  are  found.  And  as 
they  are  near  a  considerable  population  of  miners  and  lumber-men,  and  have 
access  by  railroad  to  other  centres  of  population,  both  eastward  and  westward, 

12 


178     NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

the  business  is  prosperous  in  this  large  district,  where,  by  moving  higher  up 
into  the  mountains  as  summer  advances,  the  dairy-man  secures  green  food  for 
his  cows  the  summer  tli rough,  without  trouble,  on  the  one  condition  that  he 
knows  the  country  and  how  to  pick  out  his  land  to  advantage. 

Another  dairy  district  lies  on  the  coast,  where  the  fogs  brought  in  by  the 
prevailing  north-west  winds  keep  the  ground  moist,  foster  the  greenness  and 
succulence  of  the  native  grasses  during  the  summer,  at  least  in  the  ravines,  and 
keep  the  springs  alive. 

Marin  County,  lying  north  of  San  Francisco,  is  the  country  of  butter  ranches 
on  the  coast,  though  there  are  also  many  profitable  dairies  south  of  the  bay, 
in  Santa  Cruz  and  Monterey  counties.  In  fact,  dry  as  California  is  commonly 
and  erroneously  supposed  to  be,  it  exports  a  considerable  quantity  of  butter, 
and  a  dairy-man  said  to  me  but  recently  that,  to  make  the  business  really  pros 
perous,  the  State  needed  a  million  or  two  more  inhabitants,  which  means  that 
the  surplus  product  is  now  so  great  that  it  keeps  down  the  price.  No  small 
quantity  of  this  surplus  goes  East,  as  far  as  New  York ;  and  it  is  one  of  'the 
curiosities  of  production  and  commerce  that,  while  California  can  send  butter 
to  the  Atlantic,  it  buys  eggs  of  Illinois.  One  \vould  have  thought  the  reverse 
more  probable. 

Marin  County  offers  some  important  advantages  to  the  dairy-farmer.  The 
sea-fogs  which  it  receives  cause  abundant  springs  of  excellent  soft  water,  and 
also  keep  the  grass  green  through  the  summer  and  fall  in  the  gulches  and  ra 
vines.  Vicinity  to  the  ocean  also  gives  this  region  a  very  equal  climate.  It 
is  never  cold  in  winter  nor  hot  in  summer.  In  the  milk-houses  I  saw  usually 
a  stove,  but  it  was  used  mainly  to  dry  the  milk-room  after  very  heavy  fogs 
or  continued  rains ;  and  in  the  height  of  summer  the  mercury  marks  at  most 
sixty-seven  degrees,  and  the  milk  keeps  sweet  without  artificial  aids  for  thirty- 
six  hours. 

The  cows  require  no  sheds  nor  any  store  of  food,  though  the  best  dairy 
men,  I  noticed,  raised  beets;  but  more,  they  told  me,  to  feed  to  their  pigs  than 
for  the  cows.  These  creatures  provide  for  themselves  the  year  round  in  the 
open  fields;  but  care  is  taken,  by  opening  springs  and  leading  water  in  iron 
pipes,  to  provide  an  abundance  of  this  for  them. 

The  county  is  full  of  dairy-farms;  and,  as  this  business  requires  rather  more 
and  better  buildings  than  wheat,  cattle,  or  sheep  farming,  as  well  as  more 
fences,  this  gives  the  country  a  neater  and  thriftier  appearance  than  is  usual 
among  farming  communities  in  California.  The  butter-maker  must  have  good 
buildings,  and  he  must  keep  them  in  the  best  order. 

But,  besides  these  smaller  dairy-farms,  Marin  County  contains  some  large 
"butter  ranches,"  as  they  are  called,  which  are  a  great  curiosity  in  their  way. 
The  Californians,  who  have  a  singular  genius  for  doing  things  on  a  large 
scale  which  in  other  States  are  done  by  retail,  have  managed  to  conduct  even 


DAIRY-FARMING  IN  CALIFORNIA. 


179 


r 


dairying    in    this 
way,     and     have 
known     how     to 
"organize"  the 
making  of  butter 
in    a   way   which 
would  surprise  an 
Orange   County 
farmer.    Here,  for 
instance  —  and  to 
take  the  most  suc 
cessful  and  com 
plete  of  these  ex 
periments — is  the 
r a n c h o    of    Mr. 
Charles  Webb 
Ho  ward,  on  which 
I  had  the  curiosity 
to  spend  £  couple 
of  days.     It  con 
tains     eighteen 
thousand  acres  of 
land  well  fitted  for 
dairy    purposes. 
On  this  he  has  at 
this  time  nine  sep 
arate  farms,  occu 
pied  by  nine  ten 
ants  engaged  in  making  butter. 
To  let  the  farms  outright  would 
not  do,  because  the  tenants  would 
put  up  poor  improvements,  and 
would  need,  even  then,  more  capital  than 
tenant-farmers  usually  have.     Mr.  How 
ard,  therefore,  contrived  a  scheme  which 
seems  to  work  satisfactorily  to  all  concerned,  and  which  appears  to  me  ex 
tremely  ingenious. 

He  fences  each  farm,  making  proper  subdivisions  of  large  fields;  he  opens 
springs,  and  leads  water  through  iron  pipes  to  the  proper  places,  and  also  to 
the  dwelling,  milk-house,  and  corral.  He  builds  the  houses,  which  consist  of 
a  substantial  dwelling,  twenty-eight  by  thirty-two  feet,  a  story  and  a  half  high, 
and  containing  nine  rooms,  all  lathed  and  plastered ;  a  thoroughly  well-ar- 


I'OINT   BE  YES. 


180     NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

ranged  milk-house,  twenty-five  by  fifty  feet,  having  a  milk-room  in  the  centre 
twenty-five  feet  square,  with  a  churning-room,  store-room,  wash-room,  etc.; 
a  barn,  forty  by  fifty  feet,  to  contain  hay  for  the  farm-horses  ;  also  a  calf-shed, 
a  corral,  or  inclosure  for  the  cows,  a  well-arranged  pig-pen ;  and  all  these  build 
ings  are  put  up  in  the  best  manner,  well  painted,  and  neat. 

The  tenant  receives  from  the  proprietor  all  this,  the  land,  and  cows  to  stock 
it.  He  furnishes,  on  his  part,  all  the  dairy  utensils,  the  needed  horses  and 
wagons,  the  furniture  for  the  house,  the  farm  implements,  and  the  necessary 
labor.  The  tenant  pays  to  the  owner  twenty-seven  dollars  and  a  half  per  an 
num  for  each  cow,  and  agrees  to  take  the  best  care  of  the  stock  and  of  all  parts 
of  the  farm ;  to  make  the  necessary  repairs,  and  to  raise  for  the  owner  annual 
ly  one-fifth  as  many  calves  as  he  keeps  cows,  the  remainder  of  the  calves  being 
killed  and  fed  to  the  pigs.  He  agrees  also  to  sell  nothing  but  butter  and  hogs 
from  the  farm,  the  hogs  being  entirely  the  tenant's  property. 

Under  this  system  fifteen  hundred  and  twenty  cows  are  now  kept  on  nine 
separate  farms  on  this  estate,  the  largest  number  kept  by  one  man  being  two 
hundred  and  twenty-five,  and  the  smallest  one  hundred  and  fifteen.  Mr.  How 
ard  has  been  for  years  improving  his  herd ;  he  prefers  short-horns,  and  he  saves 
every  year  the  calves  from  the  best  milkers  in  all  his  herd,  using*  also  bulls 
from  good  milking  strains.  I  was  told  that  the  average  product  of  butter  on 
the  whole  estate  is  now  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  pounds  to  each  cow; 
many  cows  give  as  high  as  two  hundred,  and  even  two  hundred  and  fifty 
pounds  per  annum. 

Men  do  the  milking,  and  also  the  butter-making,  though  on  one  farm  I  found 
a  pretty  Swedish  girl  superintending  all  the  indoor  work,  with  such  skill  and 
order  in  all  the  departments,  that  she  possessed,  so  far  as  I  saw,  the  model 
dairy  on  the  estate. 

Here,  said  I  to  myself,  is  now  an  instance  of  the  ability  of  women  to  com 
pete  with  men  which  would  delight  Mrs.  Stanton  and  all  the  Woman's  Rights 
people  ;  here  is  the  neatest,  the  sweetest,  the  most  complete  dairy  in  the  whole 
region ;  the  best  order,  the  most  shining  utensils,  the  nicest  butter-room — and 
not  only  butter,  but  cheese  also,  made,  which  is  not  usual ;  and  here  is  a  rosy- 
faced,  white-armed,  smooth- haired,  sensibly-dressed,  altogether  admirable,  and, 
to  my  eyes,  beautiful  Swedish  lass  presiding  over  it  all ;  commanding  her  men- 
servants,  and  keeping  every  part  of  the  business  in  order. 

Alas  !  Mrs.  Stanton,  she  has  discovered  a  better  business  than  butter-making. 
She  is  going  to  marry — sensible  girl  that  she  is — and  she  is  not  going  to  marry 
a  dairy-farmer  either. 

I  doubt  if  any  body  in  California  will  ever  make  as  nice  butter  as  this  pretty 
Swede ;  certainly,  every  other  dairy  I  saw  seemed  to  me  commonplace  and  un 
interesting,  after  I  had  seen  hers.  I  don't  doubt  that  the  young  man  who  has 
had  the  art  to  persuade  her  to  love  him  ought  to  be  hanged,  because  butter- 


DAIRY-FARMING  IN  CALIFORNIA.  181 

making  is  far  more  important  than  marrying.  Nevertheless,  I  wish  him  joy  in 
advance,  and,  in  humble  defiance  of  Mrs.  Stanton  and  her  brilliant  companions 
in  arms,  hereby  give  it  as  my  belief  that  the  pretty  Swede  is  a  sensible  girl — 
that,  to  use  a  California  vulgarism,  "  her  head  is  level." 

The  hogs  are  fed  chiefly  on  skim  -  milk,  and  belong  entirely  to  the  tenant. 
The  calves,  except  those  which  are  raised  for  the  proprietor,  are,  by  agree 
ment,  killed  and  fed  to  the  pigs.  The  leases  are»  usually  for  three  years. 

The  cows  are  milked  twice  a  day,  being  driven  for  that  purpose  into  a  cor 
ral,  near  the  milk-house.  I  noticed  that  they  were  all  very  gentle;  they  lay 
down  in  the  corral  with  that  placid  air  which  a  good  cow  has ;  and  whenever 
a  milkman  came  to  the  beast  he  wished  to  milk,  she  rose  at  once,  without  wait 
ing  to  be  spoken  to.  One  man  is  expected  to  milk  twenty  cows  in  the  season 
of  full  milk.  On  some  places  I  noticed  that  Chinese  were  employed  in  the 
milk-house,  to  attend  to  the  cream  arid  make  the  butter. 

The  tenants  are  of  different  nationalities,  American,  Swedes,  Germans,  Irish, 
and  Portuguese.  A  tenant  needs  about  two  thousand  dollars  in  money  to  un 
dertake  one  of  these  dairy-farms;  the  system  seems  to  satisfy  those  who  are 
now  engaged  in  it.  The  milkers  and  farm  hands  receive  thirty  dollars  per 
month  and  "  found ;"  and  good  milkers  are  in  constant  demand.  Every  thing 
is  conducted  with  great  care  and  cleanliness,  the  buildings  being  uncommon 
ly  good  for  this  State,  water  abundant,  and  many  labor-saving  contrivances 
used. 

At  one  end  of  the  corral  or  yard  in  which  the  cows  are  milked  is  a  plat 
form,  roofed  over,  on  which  stands  a  large  tin,  with  a  double  strainer,  into 
which  the  milk  is  poured  from  the  buckets.  It  runs  through  a  pipe  into  the 
milk-house,  where  it  is  again  strained,  and  then  emptied  from  a  bucket  into 
the  pans  ranged  on  shelves  around.  The  cream  is  taken  off  in  from  thirty-six 
to  forty  hours;  and  the  milk  keeps  sweet  thirty-six  hours,  even  in  summer. 
The  square  box-churn  is  used  entirely,  and  is  revolved  by  horse-power.  They 
usually  get  butter,  I  was  told,  in  half  an  hour. 

The  butter  is  worked  on  an  ingenious  turn-table,  which  holds  one  hundred 
pounds  at  a  time,  and  can,  when  loaded,  be  turned  by  a  finger ;  and  a  lever, 
working  upon  a  universal  joint,,  is  used  upon  the  butter.  When  ready,  it  is 
put  up  in  two-pound  rolls,  which  are  shaped  in  a  hand-press,  and  the  rolls  are 
not  weighed  until  they  reach  the  city.  It  is  packed  in  strong,  oblong  boxes, 
each  of  which  holds  fifty-five  rolls. 

The  cows  are  not  driven  more  than  a  mile  to  be  milked ;  the  fields  being  so 
arranged  that  the  corral  is  near  the  centre.  When  they  are  milked,  they  stray 
back  of  themselves  to  their  grazing  places. 


182     NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


COLUMBIA  KIVEB,  80EME. 


CHAPTER  X. 
TEHAMA  AND  BUTTE,  AND  THE  UPPER  COUNTRY. 

ENERAL  BID  WELL,  of  Butte  County,  raised  last  year  on  his  own  estate, 
besides  a  large  quantity  of  fruit,  seventy-five  thousand  bushels  of  wheat. 
Dr.  Glenn,  of  Colusa  County,  raised  and  sent  to  market  from  his  own  es 
tate,  two  hundred  thousand  bushels.  Mr.  Warner,  of  Solano  County,  pro 
duced  nine  thousand  gallons  of  cider  from  his  own  orchards.  A  sheep-grazer 
in  Placer  County  loaded  ten  railroad  cars  with  wool,  the  clip  of  his  own  sheep. 
For  many  weeks  after  harvest  you  may  see  sacks  of  wheat  stacked  along  the 
railroad  and  the  river  for  miles,  awaiting  shipment ;  for  the  farmers  have  no 
rain  to  fear,  and  the  grain  crop  is  thrashed  in  the  field,  bagged,  and  stacked 
along  the  road,  without  even  a  tarpaulin  to  cover  it. 

In  1855,  California  exported  about  four  hundred  and  twenty  tons  of  wheat; 
in  1873,  the  export  was  but  little  less  than  six  hundred  thousand  tons.  In 
1857,  six  casks  and  six  hundred  cases  of  California  wine  were  sent  out  of  the 
State;  in  1872,  about  six  hundred  thousand  gallons  were  exported.  In  1850, 
California  produced  five  thousand  five  hundred  and  thirty  pounds  of  wool ;  in 
1872,  this  product  amounted  to  twenty -four  million  pounds.  Thirty  million 


TEHAMA  AND  BUTTE,  AND  THE  UPPER  COUNTRY.        183 

pounds  of  apples,  ten  million  pounds  of  peaches,  four  and  a  half  million 
pounds  of  apricots,  nearly  two  million  pounds  of  cherries,  are  part  of  the 
product  of  the  State,  in  which  the  man  is  still  living  who  brought  across  the 
Plains  the  first  fruit-trees  to  set  out  a  nursery;  while  four  and  a  half  million 
of  oranges,  and  a  million  and  a  half  of  lemons,  shipped  from  the  southern  part 
of  the  State,  show  the  rapid  growth  of  that  culture. 

In  the  northern  counties,  of  which  Tehama  and  Butte  are  a  sample,  they  are 
usually  fortunate  in  the  matter  of  late  as  well  as  early  rains ;  but  close  under 
the  coast  range  the  country  is  dryer,  as  is  natural,  the  high  mountain  range 
absorbing  the  moisture  from  the  north-westerly  winds.  They  begin  to  plow 
as  soon  as  it  rains,  usually  in  November,  and  sow  the  grain  at  once.  For 
merly  the  higher  plains  were  thought  to  be  fit  only  for  grazing ;  but  even  the 
red  lands,  which  are  somewhat  harder  to  break  up,  and  were  thought  to  be  in 
fertile,  are  found  to  bear  good  crops  of  grain  ;  and  this  year  these  lands  bear  the 
drought  better  than  some  that  were  and  are  preferred.  Lambing  takes  place 
here  in  February,  and  they  shear  in  April.  The  grazing  lands  abound  in  wild 
oats,  very  nutritious,  but  apt  to  run  out  where  the  pastures  are  overstocked. 
Alfilleria  is  not  found  so  far  north  as  this ;  alfalfa  has  been  sown  all  over  the 
valley  in  proper  places,  and  does  well.  They  cut  it  three  times  in  the  year,  and 
turn  stock  in  on  it  after  the  last  cutting ;  and  all  who  grow  it  speak  well  of  it. 

Red  Bluff  is  one  of  the  oldest  towns  in  the  valley ;  it  stands  at  the  head  of 
navigation  on  the  Sacramento,  and  was,  therefore,  a  place  of  importance  before 
the  railroad  was  built.  The  river  here  is  narrow  and  shoal,  and  it  is  crossed 
by  one  of  those  ferries  common  where  the  rapid  current,  pushing  against  the 
ferry-boat,  drives  it  across  the  stream,  a  wire  cable  preventing  it  from  floating 
down  stream.  The  main  street  of  the  town  consists  mainly  of  bar-rooms,  liv 
ery-stables,  barber-shops,  and  hotels,  with  an  occasional  store  of  merchandise 
sandwiched  between ;  and,  if  you  saw  only  this  main  street,  you  would  con 
ceive  but  a  poor  opinion  of  the  people.  But  other  streets  contain  a  number 
of  pleasant,  shady  cottages;  and,  as  I  drove  out  into  the  country,  the  driver 
pointed  with  pride  to  the  school-house,  a  large  and  fine  building,  which  had 
just  been  completed  at  a  cost  of  thirty  thousand  dollars,  and  seemed  to  me 
worth  the  money.  The  town  has  also  water-works ;  and  the  people  propose  to 
bridge  the  Sacramento  at  a  cost  of  forty  thousand  dollars,  and  to  build  a  new 
jail,  to  cost  fifteen  thousand  dollars.  Such  enterprises  show  the  wealth  of  the 
people  in  this  State,  and  astonish  the  traveler,  who  imagines,  in  driving  over 
the  great  plain,  that  it  is  almost  uninhabited,  but  sees,  in  a  thirty-thousand 
dollar  school-house  in  a  little  town  like  Red  Bluff,  that  not  only  are  there  peo 
ple,  but  that  they  have  the  courage  to  bear  taxation  for  good  objects,  and  the 
means  to  pay. 

From  Red  Bluff  two  of  the  great  mountain  peaks  of  Northern  California 
are  magnificently  seen — Lassen's  Peaks  and  Shasta.  The  latter,  still  one  hun- 


184    NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

dred  and  twenty  miles  off  to  the  north,  rears  his  great,  craggy,  snow-covered 
summit  high  in  the  air,  and  seems  not  more  than  twenty  miles  away.  Las- 
sen's  Peaks  are  twins,  and  very  lonely  indeed.  They  are  sixty  miles  to  the 
east,  and  are  also,  at  this  season,  glistening  with  snow.  Between  Lassen's  and 
the  Sacramento,  some  thirty  miles  up  among  the  mountains,  there  is  a  rich 
timber  country,  whose  saw-mills  supply  the  northern  part  of  the  valley  with 
lumber,  sugar -pine  being  the  principal  tree  sawed  up.  The  valley  begins  to 
narrow  above  Red  Bluff,  and  the  foot-hills  and  mountains  still  abound  in  wild 
game.  Hunters  bring  their  peltries  hither  for  sale ;  and  this  has  occasioned 
the  establishment  at  this  point  of  a  thriving  glove  factory,  which  turned  out — 
from  an  insignificant  looking  little  shop — not  less  than  forty  thousand  dollars' 
worth  of  gloves  last  year.  Two  enterprising  young  men  manage  it,  and  they 
employ,  I  was  told,  from  fifty  to  eighty  women  in  the  work,  and  turn  out  very 
excellent  buckskin  gloves,  as  well  as  some  finer  kinds.  Such  petty  industries 
are  too  often  neglected  in  California,  where  every  body  still  wants  to  conduct 
his  calling  on  a  grand  scale,  and  where  dozens  of  ways  to  prosperity,  and  even 
wealth,  are  constantly  neglected,  because  they  appear  too  slow. 

This  whole  country  is  only  about  four  years  in  advance  of  the  lower  or  San 
Joaquin  Valley,  arid  the  influence  of  climate  and  soil  in  bringing  trees  to  bear 
early  was  shown  to  me  in  several  thrifty  orchards,  already  beginning  to 
bear,  on  ground  which  four  years  ago  was  bought  for  two  dollars  and  fifty 
cents  per  acre.  The  habit  of  raising  wheat  is  so  strong  here,  that  almost  every 
thing  else  is  neglected ;  and  I  remember  a  farm  where  the  wheat  field  extend 
ed,  unbroken,  except  by  a  narrow  path  leading  to  the  road,  right  up  to  the  ve 
randa  of  the  farmer's  house.  His  family  lived  on  canned  fruits  and  vegetables ; 
and  except  here  and  there  a  brilliant  poppy,  which  stubborn  Dame  Nature  had 
inserted  among  his  wheat,  wife  and  children  had  not  a  flower  to  grace  mantle 
or  table.  I  confess  that  it  pleased  me  to  hear  this  farmer  complain  of  hard 
times,  because,  as  he  said,  the  speculators  in  San  Francisco  made  more  money 
from  his  wheat  than  he  did.  If  the  speculators  in  San  Francisco  teach  the 
farmers  in  California  to  grow  something  besides  wheat,  they  will  deserve  well 
of  the  State. 

The  upper  waters  of  the  Sacramento  run  through  mountain  passes,  and  be 
tween  banks  so  steep  that  for  miles  at  a  time  the  river  is  inaccessible,  except 
by  difficult  and  often  dangerous  descents ;  and  an  old  miner  told  me  that  when 
this  part  of  the  river,  between  where  Redding  now  lies  and  its  source,  near 
Mount  Shasta,  was  first  "  prospected  "  for  gold,  the  miners  or  explorers  had  to 
build  boats  and  descend  by  water,  trying  for  gold  by  the  way,  because  they 
could  not  get  down  by  land.  In  those  days,  he  said,  if  a  company  of  miners 
could  not  make  twenty  dollars  a  day  each,  the  "  prospect "  was  too  poor  to 
detain  them;  and  they  made  but  a  short  stay  at  most  points  on  the  Upper 
Sacramento. 


TEHAMA  AND  BUTTE,  AND  THE  UPPER  COUNTRY. 


185 


The  country  was  then  full  of  Indians ;  and  it  was  very  strange,  indeed,  to 
hear  this  miner — a  thoroughly  kind-hearted  man  he  was,  and  now  the  father 
of  a  family  of  children — tell  with  the  utmost  unconcern,  and  as  a  matter  of 
course,  how  they  used  to  shoot  down  these  Indians,  who  waylaid  them  at 
favoring  spots  on  the  river,  and  tried  to  pick  them  off  with  arrows. 

I  remember  hearing  a  little  boy  ask  a  famous  general  once  how  many  men 
he  had  killed  in  the  course  of  his  wars,  and  being  disappointed  when  he  heard 
that  the  general,  so  far  as  he  knew,  had  never  killed  any  body.  I  suppose  a 
soldier  in  battle  but  rarely  knows  that  he  has  actually  shot  a  man.  But  one 


STREET   IN   OLYMPIA,  WASHINGTON   TERBITOBY. 


of  these  old  Indian  fighters  sits  down  after  dinner,  over  a  pipe,  and  relates  to 
you,  with  quite  horrifying  coolness,  every  detail  of  the  death  which  his  rifle 
and  his  sure  eye  dealt  to  an  Indian ;  and  when  this  one,  stroking  meantime  the 
head  of  a  little  boy  who  was  standing  at  his  knees,  described  to  me  how  he 
lay  on  the  grass  and  took  aim  at  a  tall  chief  who  was,  in  the  moonlight,  trying 
to  steal  a  boat  from  a  party  of  gold -seekers,  and  how,  at  the  crack  of  his  rifle, 
the  Indian  fell  his  whole  length  in  the  boat  and  never  stirred  again,  I  confess 
I  was  dumb  with  amazement.  The  tragedy  had  not  even  the  dignity  of  an 
event  in  this  man's  life.  He  shot  Indians  as  he  ate  his  dinner,  plainly  as  a 
mere  matter  of  course.  Nor  was  he  a  brute,  but  a  kindly,  honest,  good  fellow, 
not  in  the  least  blood-thirsty. 

The  poor  Indians  have  rapidly  melted  away  under  the  fervent  heat  of  forty- 
rod  whisky,  rifles,  and  disease.     This  whole  Northern  country  must  have  been 


186     NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

populous  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago ;  General  Bidwell  and  other  old  Califor- 
nians  have  told  me  of  the  surprisingly  rapid  disappearance  of  the  Indians,  after 
the  white  gold-seekers  came  in.  It  was,  I  do  not  doubt,  a  pleasant  land  for 
the  red  men.  They  lived  on  salmon,  clover,  deer,  acorns,  and  a  few  roots 
which  are  abundant  on  mountain  and  plain,  and  of  all  this  food  there  is  the 
greatest  plenty  even  yet.  If  you  travel  toward  Oregon,  by  stage,  in  June,  July, 
or  August,  you  will  see  at  convenient  points  along  the  Sacramento  parties  of 
Indians  spearing  and  trapping  salmon.  They  build  a  few  rude  huts  of  brush, 
gather  sticks  for  the  fire,  which  is  needed  to  cook  and  dry  the  salmon  meat ; 
and  then,  while  the  men,  armed  with  long  two-pronged  spears,  stand  at  the 
end  of  logs  projecting  over  the  salmon  pools,  and  spear  the  abundant  tish,  the 
squaws  clean  the  fish,  roast  them  to  dryness  among  the  hot  stones  of  their 
rude  fire-place,  and  finally  rub  the  dried  meat  to  a  powder  between  their  hands, 
or  by  the  help  of  stones,  when  it  is  packed  away  in  bags  for  winter  use. 

What  you  thus  see  on  the  Sacramento  is  going  on  at  the  same  time  on  half  a 
dozen  other  rivers;  and  I  am  told  that  these  Indians  come  from  considerable 
distances  to  this  annual  fishing,  which  was  practiced  by  them  doubtless  a  long 
time  before  the  white  men  came  in.  Not  unfrequently  in  these  mountains  you 
will  find  a  castaway  white  man  with  a  half-breed  family  about  him;  "squaw- 
men  "  they  are  called,  as  a  term  of  contempt,  by  the  more  decent  class. 

As  you  drive  by  the  farm-houses  on  the  road,  you  may  commonly  see  ven 
ison  hanging  on  the  porch ;  and  every  farmer  has  a  supply  of  fishing-rods  and 
lines,  so  that  you  can  not  go  amiss  for  trout  and  venison.  Few  of  them  know, 
however,  that  a  trout  ought  to  be  cooked  as  quickly  as  possible  after  he  is 
caught ;  and  if  you  do  not  take  care,  your  afternoon  fish  will  appear  on  the 
table  next  day  as  corned  trout,  in  which  shape  I  have  no  liking  for  it. 

The  Shasta  Valley  contains  a  good  deal  of  excellent  farming  land,  but  it  is 
used  now  chiefly  for  cattle  and  sheep,  and  in  many  parts  of  it  the  grazing  is 
very  fine.  There  are  a  number  of  lesser  valleys  scattered  through  the  mount 
ains  hereabouts.  Indeed,  the  two  ranges  seem  to  open  out  for  a  while,  and 
Scott's  Valley  on  the  west,  and  the  Klamath  Lake  country  to  the  east  and 
north-east  from  Yreka,  are  favorite  grazing  regions.  Here  there  is  occasional 
snow  in  the  winter,  and  some  cold  weather;  the  spring  opens  later  and  the 
rains  last  longer.  The  streams  in  all  this  region  bear  gold,  and  miners  are 
busy  in  them.  Yreka,  in  the  Shasta  Valley,  is  the  centre  of  a  considerable 
mining  district,  and  therefore  a  busy  place,  even  without  the  Modoc  war,  which 
gave  it  a  temporary  renown  during  the  winter  and  spring.  Now  that  the 
Modoc  war  is  closed,  no  doubt  the  famous  lava  beds  will  attract  curious  vis 
itors  from  afar.  They  can  be  reached  in  thirty-six  hours  from  Yreka;  and 
that  place  is  distant  thirty-six  hours  from  San  Francisco. 

Aside  from  the  public  lands  still  open  in  small  tracts  of  eighty  and  one  hun 
dred  and  sixty  acres  to  pre-emption  by  actual  settlers,  under  the  homestead 


TEHAMA  AND  BUTTE,  AND  THE  UPPER  COUNTRY.  187 

law,  and  the  railroad  lands,  to  be  had  in  sections  of  six  hundred  and  forty 
acres,  the  Sacramento  Valley  contains  a  number  of  considerable  Spanish  grants ; 
and  the  following  account  of  these,  which  I  take  from  the  San  Francisco  Bul 
letin,  will  give  an  Eastern  reader  some  idea  of  the  extent  of  such  grants,  their 
Value,  and  how  they  are  used : 

"The  first  large  tract  of  land  north  and  west  of  Marysville  is  the  Neal 
grant,  containing  about  seventeen  thousand  acres.  This  grant  is  owned  by 
the  Durham  estate  and  Judge  C.  F.  Lott,  though  Gruelly  owns  a  large  slice 
of  it  also.  The  Neal  grant  is  mostly  composed  of  rich  bottom-lands;  nearly 
all  of  it  is  farmed  under  lease ;  the  lessees  pay  one-quarter  to  one-third  of  the 
crops  as  rent.  They  do  very  well  under  this  arrangement. 

"The  next  grant  on  the  north  is  that  of  Judge  O.  C.  Pratt.  It  contains 
twenty-eight  thousand  acres  of  bottom-land.  Butte  Creek  skirts  it  on  one 
side  for  a  distance  of  seventeen  miles,  and  a  branch  of  that  creek  runs  through 
the  centre.  Nearly  six  thousand  acres  are  covered  with  large  oak-trees.  There 
are  about  one  hundred  miles  of  fences  on  this  rancho ;  there  are  about  ten  thou 
sand  sheep,  twelve  hundred  head  of  cattle,  and  two  hundred  horses  on  it ;  the 
land  has  been  cultivated  or  used  as  pasturage  for  about  fourteen  years.  About 
ten  thousand  acres  of  it,  I  am  informed,  would  readily  sell  in  subdivisions  for 
fifty  dollars  per  acre ;  ten  thousand  acres  would  sell  for  about  thirty  dollars, 
and  eight  thousand  acres  at  twenty  dollars  per  acre.  There  are  many  tenants 
on  this  tract,  having  leases  covering  periods  of  three  to  five  years ;  rent,  one- 
fourth  of  the  crop  raised ;  the  owner  builds  fences  and  houses  for  the  lessees. 
The  average  quantity  of  wool  annually  grown  on  this  rancho  is  sixty  thousand 
pounds;  beef  cattle,  two  hundred  and  fifty  head;  value  of  produce  received  as 
rent  from  tenants,  twelve  thousand  dollars  per  year.  Judge  Pratt  is  willing  to 
sell  farms  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  to  three  hundred  and  twenty  acres  at 
about  the  rates  named,  and  on  easy  terms. 

"The  Hensley  grant,  lying  north  of  Judge  Pratt's  rancho,  contains  five 
leagues.  It  was  rejected  by  the  United  States  Courts,  and  was  taken  up  by, 
and  is  covered  with,  settlers,  who  own  one  hundred  and  sixty  to  three  hundred 
and  twenty  acres  each,  worth  forty  to  sixty  dollars  per  acre.  Little  or  none 
of  that  land  is  for  sale,  the  owners  being  too  well  satisfied  with  their  farms  to 
sell  them,  even  at  the  highest  ruling  rates. 

"  General  BidwelPs  rancho  adjoins  Judge  Pratt's.  It  contains  about  twenty 
thousand  acres,  of  which  about  one-quarter  is  of  the  best  quality,  and  would 
readily  sell  at  fifty  to  sixty  dollars  per  acre.  About  five  thousand  acres  more, 
lying  along  the  Sacramento  River,  are  subject  to  overflow.  That  portion  is 
very  rich  grazing  land,  and  is  worth  fifteen  to  twenty  dollars  per  acre.  The 
other  ten  thousand  acres  lie  near  the  foot-hills ;  they  are  extremely  well  adapt 
ed  to  grape  culture,  and  are  worth  five  to  twelve  dollars  per  acre.  General 
Bid  well  is  not  willing  to  sell. 


188    NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

"  The  next  rancho  on  the  west  is  owned  by  John  Parrot.  It  contains  about 
seventeen  thousand  acres,  and  lies  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Sacramento  Riv7er. 
It  contains  about  four  thousand  acres  of  first-class  wheat  or  corn  land;  the  re 
mainder  is  composed  of  excellent  pasturage ;  there  are  only  a  few  thousand 
sheep,  and  a  few  cattle  and  horses  on  this  rancho.  It  has  for  several  years * 
been  cultivated  by  Morehead  and  Griffith,  under  a  private  arrangement  with 
the  owner.  It  is  understood  that  Parrot  would  sell,  either  in  a  body  or  in 
small  tracts,  to  desirable  purchasers ;  his  prices  would  probably  range  from  fif 
teen  to  fifty  dollars  per  acre. 

"  The  next  large  rancho  is  that  of  Henry  Gerke,  living  twenty  miles  above 
Chico.  It  now  contains  about  eighteen  thousand  acres,  of  which  a  large  por 
tion  is  suitable  for  wheat  or  corn  growing,  and  grazing  purposes.  One  of  the 
largest  and  finest  vineyards  in  the  State  is  on  this  rancho ;  and  the  wine  it  pro 
duces  has  a  large  sale  in  the  State.  The  most  of  Gerke's  land  is  devoted  to 
wheat  raising;  eighteen  hundred  tons  of  wheat  were  raised  on  it  last  year, 
and  about  twenty-two  hundred  tons  this  year.  It  is  mostly  tilled  by  tenants. 
The  land  is  worth  from  twenty  to  fifty  dollars  per  acre.  The  owner  would 
sell  the  whole  rancho,  but  it  is  not  known  whether  he  would  sell  in  small 
tracts  or  not.  He  has  a  standing  offer  of  six  hundred  and  seventy-five  thou 
sand  dollars  for  the  land,  vineyards,  and  improvements. 

"  General  Wilson  owns  several  thousand  acres  of  the  original  Gerke  grant. 
His  land  is  altogether  devoted  to  wheat  growing,  and  is  worth  forty  dollars 
per  acre. 

"A.  G.  Towne's  grant  adjoins  Gerke's  on  the  north  and  west.  It  now  con 
tains  about  twelve ,  thousand  acres ;  much  of  it  is  devoted  to  wheat  growing, 
and  is  worth  fifteen  to  forty  dollars  per  acre,  or  an  average  all  round  of  twen 
ty-five  dollars. 

"At  Tehama,  on  the  west  side  of  the  Sacramento  River,  is  Thome's  grant. 
It  contains  about  twenty  thousand  acres,  one-third  of  which  is  of  the  very  best 
quality  of  wheat  land,  the  remainder  good  grazing.  It  is  understood  that 
this  land  can  be  bought  either  as  a  whole  or  in  small  farms.  The  best  of  it 
is  worth  about  forty-five  dollars  an  acre;  the  body  of  it  about  twenty  dollars. 

"The  next  grant,  on  the  north,  is  that  of  William  G.  Chard.  It  is  nearly  all 
cut  up  and  owned  in  small  farms.  Colonel  E.  J.  Lewis,  a  well-known  politician, 
is  one  of  the  largest  owners  on  the  Chard  tract.  He  is  extensively  engaged 
in  wheat  raising. 

"Ide's  grant  is  adjacent,  on  the  north;  it  is  also  mostly  divided  and  owned 
in  small  tracts  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  to  four  hundred  acres  each. 

"The  Dye  grant  lies  east  of  and  opposite  to  Red  Bluff.  It  was  originally  a 
large  grant,  but  has  been  partially  subdivided.  It  contains  some  good  bottom 
land,  but  is  mostly  adapted  to  grazing. 

"  The  most  northerly  grant  in  the  State  is  that  formerly  owned  by  the  late 


TEHAMA  AND  BUTTE,  AND  THE  UPPER  COUNTRY.        189 

Major  Redding.  It  is  partially  subdivided.  Like  the  Dye  grant,  it  contains 
some  rich  bottom-land,  but,  like  it,  is  mostly  adapted  for  grazing  and  grape 
growing.  Haggin  and  Tevis  lately  bought  (or  hold  for  debt)  about  fifteen 
thousand  acres  of  this  rancho,  which  are  worth  about  one  hundred  thousand 
dollars,  or  about  seven  dollars  per  acre.  It  is  understood  from  inquiries  made 
from  the  owners  of  these  two  last  named  tracts,  that  they  are  willing  to  sell 
grain  lands  at  about  an  average  of  thirty  dollars  per  acre." 

Of  course  these  grants  make  up,  in  the  aggregate,  but  a  small  part  of  the 
arable  land  of  the  Sacramento  Valley. 


190    NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


"TAOOAIA,"  OK  MOLT.NT  RAINIKE. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

TOBACCO  CULTURE— WITH  A  NEW  METHOD  OF  CURING  THE  LEAF. 

THE  manufacture  of  cigars  is  one  of  the  largest  industries  of  San  Francisco. 
Last  year  the  Government  received  taxes  on  78,000,000  cigars  made  in 
the  State  of  California,  and  in  September  alone  taxes  were  paid  on  8,000,000. 
But,  though  the  State  has  thousands  of  acres  of  land  well  fitted  to  produce 
tobacco,  and  though  the  "  weed "  has  been  grown  here  for  twenty  years  or 
more  with  great  success,  so  far  as  getting  a  heavy  crop  is  concerned,  I  doubt 
if  even  1,000,000  of  cigars  have,  until  this  fall,  been  made  of  tobacco  raised 
in  California. 

There  has,  however,  been  no  lack  of  efforts  to  produce  here  tobacco  fit  to 
manufacture  into  cigars  and  for  smoking  and  chewing  purposes.  The  soil  in 
many  parts  of  the  State  is  peculiarly  adapted  to  this  plant;  the  climate,  mild 
and  regular,  favored  its  growth  and  hastened  its  perfection.  The  best  seed 
was  procured  from  Connecticut,  Kentucky,  Virginia,  Florida,  and  Cuba.  But 
for  many  years  the  product  was  rank,  coarse,  and  fitter  for  sheep-wash  than 
for  any  other  purpose. 

Meantime,  however,  not  a  few  men  familiar  with  the  old  processes  of  raising 
and  curing  the  plant  have  tried  their  best  ingenuity  to  improve  the  quality. 
It  was  thought  that  the  soil  was  too  rich,  because  the  tobacco  makes  a  rapid 
and  heavy  growth;  but  planting  on  thinner  or  older  soil  did  not  answer. 
Several  methods  of  curing  were  contrived,  and  there  is  now  reason  to  believe 
that  the  one  known  as  the  Gulp  process,  from  the  name  of  its  patentee,  will 
produce  the  desired  result.  I  had  heard  and  read  so  much  about  it,  and  about 
the  merit  of  the  tobacco  produced  by  it,  that  I  went  down  to  Gilroy,  seventy 


TOBACCO  CULTURE,  ETC.  191 

or  eighty  miles  south  of  San  Francisco,  to  see  what  had  really  been  accom 
plished.  The  account  I  give  below  will  probably  interest  many  tobacco  grow 
ing  and  manufacturing  readers,  while  it  will,  I  fear,  painfully  affect  the  spirits 
of  the  anti-tobacconists ;  for  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  tobacco  will  be 
come  presently  one  of  the  most  important  and  valuable  crops  of  this  State. 

I  must  premise  that  I  am  not  an  expert  in  tobacco,  nor  familiar  with  the 
methods  pursued  in  the  East.  I  have  seen  a  tobacco-field  and  the  inside  of  a 
Connecticut  curing-house,  and  that  is  about  all.  I  give,  therefore,  not  opinions, 
but  facts. 

Gilroy  stands  in  a  long  and  broad  plain,  a  very  rich  piece  of  alluvial  bottom, 
with  water  so  abundant  that  artesian  wells  are  easily  bored  and  very  common. 
At  the  depth  of  one  hundred  and  thirty  feet  they  get  flowing  wells,  and  it 
happened  in  one  case  of  which  I  heard  that  the  water  came  up  with  such  force 
as  to  prevent  the  casing  going  down  into  the  well,  and  the  pressure  of  the 
water  broke  away  the  ground,  enlarged  the  bore  of  the  well,  and  threatened  to 
flood  a  considerable  area,  so  that  the  farmers  gathered  in  force,  and  by  means 
of  an  iron  caisson  loaded  with  stones,  and  with  many  cart-loads  of  stones  be 
sides,  plugged  up  the  dangerous  hole. 

The  land  is  a  deep  alluvial  loam,  easily  worked,  and  here,  and  in  some  neigh 
boring  valleys,  many  tobacco  growers  have  been  engaged  for  the  last  ten  or 
twelve  years.  Mr.  Gulp,  who  was  a  tobacco  grower,  and,  if  I  understood  him 
rightly,  also  a  manufacturer  in  New  York  for  some  years  before  he  came  here, 
and  who  appears,  at  any  rate,  to  be  a  very  thorough  farmer  and  a  lover  of  clean 
fields,  has  planted  tobacco  here  for  fifteen  years.  He  has  a  farm  of  about 
seven  hundred  acres,  four  hundred  of  which  have  this  year  been  in  tobacco. 
From  him  and  others  I  learned  the  following  particulars  of  the  way  in  which 
they  cultivate  the  plant  in  California. 

They  sow  the  seed  from  the  1st  to  the.  10th  of  January,  and  sometimes  even 
in  December.  The  beds  are  prepared  and  sown  as  in  the  East,  except  that 
they  do  not  always  burn  the  ground  over,  which,  if  I  remember  rightly,  is  in 
variably  done  in  Missouri  and  Kentucky.  In  this  season,  the  days  are  always 
warm  enough  for  the  little  plants ;  but  there  are  light  frosts  at  night,  and  they 
are  protected  against  these  by  frames  covered  with  thin  cotton  cloth. 

The  fields  are  plowed — by  the  best  growers — ten  inches  deep ;  cross-plowed 
and  harrowed  until  the  soil  is  fine,  and  then  ridged — that  is  to  say,  two  fur 
rows  are  thrown  together.  This  saves  the  plants  from  harm  by  a  heavy  rain, 
and  also  makes  the  ground  warmer,  and  is  found  to  start  the  plants  more 
quickly. 

Planting  in  the  fields  begins  about  the  8th  of  April ;  and  the  plants  are  set 
a  foot  apart  in  the  rows,  the  rows  being  three  feet  apart,  if  they  are  from 
Havana  seed  ;  if  Connecticut  or  Florida,  they  stand  eighteen  inches  or  two  feet 
apart  in  the  rows. 


192     NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

They  had  grown,  besides  Havana  and  Florida,  for  their  crop,  Latakia,  Hun 
garian,  Mexican,  Virginia,  Connecticut-seed  Standard,  Burleigh,  White  Leaf, 
and  some  other  kinds,  by  way  of  experiment. 

Cultivators  and  shovel-plows  are  used  to  keep  the  soil  loose  and  clean ;  if 
the  weather  should  prove  damp  and  cold,  the  shovel-plow  is  used  to  make  the 
ridges  somewhat  higher.  They  go  over  the  fields  twice  in  the  season  with 
these  tools,  using  the  hoe  freely  where  weeds  get  into  the  rows.  Last  year,  in 
twenty-six  days  after  they  were  done  planting,  they  had  gathered  two  bales 
of  tobacco.  This,  however,  is  not  common,  and  was  done  by  very  close  man 
agement,  and  on  a  warm  soil. 

All  the  tobacco  growers  with  whom  I  spoke  assert  that  they  are  not  trou 
bled  with  that  hideous  creature,  "  the  worm."  They  attribute  this  in  part  to 
the  excellence  of  their  soil,  and  partly  to  the  abundance  of  birds  and  yellow 
jackets.  They  do  not  "worm"  their  crop,  it  seems,  which  must  give  them 
an  enviable  advantage  over  Eastern  growers. 

They  do  not  always  "  top  "  the  Havana,  and  they  do  very  little  "  suckering." 
If  the  ground  is  clean,  they  let  the  suckers  from  the  root  grow,  and  these  be 
come  as  large  and  heavy  as  the  original  plant.  They  believe  that  the  soil  is 
strong  enough  to  bear  the  plants  and  suckers,  and  that  they  get  a  better  leaf 
and  finer  quality  without  suckering. 

The  planting  is  continued  from  April  until  the  latter  part  of  July,  so  as  to 
let  the  crop  come  in  gradually ;  the  last  planting  may  be  caught  by  an  early 
frost,  but  whatever  they  plant  before  the  1st  of  July  is  safe  in  any  season. 
Cutting  begins  about  the  4th  of  June,  and  this  year  they  were  cutting  still 
on  the  19th  of  October.  The  earlier  cut  plants  sprout  again  at  once,  and  ma 
ture  a  second  and  even  a  third  crop.  Mr.  Culp  told  me  that  he  had  taken 
four  crops  of  Havana  in  one  year  from  the  same  field,  and  I  saw  considerable 
fields  of  third  crop  just  cut  or  standing;  but  in  some  cases  the  frost  had 
caught  this.  "  If  the  soil  is  in  perfect  order,  we  can  here  make  a  crop  of  Ha 
vana  in  forty  days  from  the  planting,"  said  he. 

One  man  can  prepare  and  take  care  of  ten  acres  here,  keeping  it  in  good 
order.  For  planting  and  cutting,  of  course,  an  extra  force  is  used.  One  man 
can  set  out  or  plant  three  thousand  plants  in  a  day  of  Havana;  of  the  other 
kinds  from  fifteen  hundred  to  two  thousand. 

The  tobacco  is  cut  with  a  hatchet ;  if  it  is  Havana,  the  toppers  usually  go 
just  ahead  of  the  cutters  in  the  field,  or  they  may  be  a  day  ahead.  Florida  is 
topped  ten  days  or  two  weeks  before  cutting.  You  must  remember  that  after 
April  they  have  no  rain  here,  so  that  all  field  work  goes  on  without  interrup 
tion  from  the  weather,  and  crops  can  be  exposed  in  the  field  as  a  planter  would 
not  dare  do  in  the  East.  Up  to  the  cutting,  the  methods  here  differ  from 
those  used  in  the  East,  only  so  far  as  climate  and  soil  are  different. 

When  the  plant  lies  in  the  field  Mr.  Gulp's  peculiar  process  begins;  and  this 


TOBACCO  CULTURE,  ETC. 


193 


I  prefer  to  describe  to  you  as  nearly  as  I  can  in  his  own  words.  He  said  that 
tobacco  had  long  been  grown  in  California  even  before  the  Americans  came. 
He  had  raised  it  as  a  crop  for  fifteen  years;  and  before  he  perfected  his  new 
process,  he  was  able  usually  to  select  the  best  of  his  crop  for  smoking-tobacco, 
and  sold  the  remainder  for  sheep-wash.  One  year  two  millions  of  pounds  were 
raised  in  the  State,  and,  as  it  was  mostly  sold  for  sheep- wash,  it  lasted  several 
years,  and  discouraged  the  growers.  Tobacco  always  grew  readily,  but  it  was 
too  rank  and  strong.  They  used  Eastern  methods,  topping  and  suckering,  and 
as  the  plant  had  here  a  very  long  season  to  grow  and  mature,  the  leaf  was 
thick  and  very  strong. 

The  main  features  of  the  Gulp  process  are,  he  said,  to  let  the  tobacco,  when 
cut,  wilt  on  the  field ;  then  take  it  at 
once  to  the  tobacco-house  and  pile  it 
down,  letting  it  heat  on  the  piles  to 
100°  for  Havana.  It  must,  he  thinks, 
come  to  100°,  but  if  it  rises  to  102°  it 
is  ruined.  Piling,  therefore,  requires 
great  judgment.  The  tobacco-houses 
are  kept  at  a  temperature  of  about 
70° ;  and  late  in  the  fall,  to  cure  a  late 
second  or  third  crop,  they  sometimes 
use  a  stove  to  maintain  a  proper  heat 
in  the  house,  for  the  tobacco  must  not 
lie  in  the  pile  without  heating. 

When  it  has  had  its  first  sweat,  it  is 
hung  up  on  racks ;  and  here  Mr.  Gulp's 
process  is  peculiar.  He  places  the  stalk 
between  two  battens,  so  that  it  sticks 
out  horizontally  from  the  frame ;  thus 
each  leaf  hangs  independently  from  the 
stalk ;  and  the  racks  or  frames  are  so  arranged  that  all  the  leaves  on  all  the 
stalks  have  a  separate  access  to  the  air. 

The  tobacco-houses  are  frame  buildings,  100  x  60  feet,  with  usually  four  rows 
of  racks,  and  two  gangways  for  working.  On  the  rack  the  surface  moisture 
dries  from  the  leaf;  and  at  the  proper  time  it  is  again  piled,  racked,  and  so 
on  for  three  or  even  four  times.  The  racks  are  of  rough  boards,  and  the  floor 
of  the  house  is  of  earth. 

After  piling  and  racking  for  three  weeks,  the  leaves  are  stripped  from  the 
stalk  and  put  into  "hands,"  and  they  are  then  "bulked,"  and  lie  thus  about 
three  months,  when  the  tobacco  is  boxed.  From  the  time  of  cutting,  from 
four  to  six  months  are  required  to  make  the  leaf  ready  for  the  manufacturer. 

"  Piling  "  appears  to  be  the  most  delicate  part  of  the  cure,  and  they  have 

13 


INDIAN    CRADLE,    WASHINGTON    TEKU1TOKY. 


194    NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

often  to  work  all  night  to  save  tobacco  that  threatens  to  overheat.  Mr.  Gulp 
thinks  the  dryness  of  the  climate  no  disadvantage.  I  was  told  that  they  find 
it  useful  sometimes  to  sprinkle  the  floors  of  the  tobacco-houses. 

I  saw  racks,  too,  in  the  fields — portable,  and  easily  carried  anywhere;  and 
on  these  a  great  quantity  of  Florida  tobacco,  used  for  chewing  and  smoking, 
had  been  or  was  getting  cured.  It  was  piled  in  the  field  where  it  was  cut,  and 
the  whole  curing  process,  up  to  "  bulking,"  is  carried  on  in  the  open  air.  Ha 
vana  "  fillers "  they  also  cure  in  the  field,  as  the  fine  color  is  not  needed  for 
that. 

Mr.  Culp  thought  his  method  of  horizontal  suspension  allowed  the  juices 
from  the  stalk  to  be  carefully  distributed  among  the  leaves.  He  told  me  that 
a  fair  average  crop  was  about  1500  pounds  of  Havana,  or  2500  pounds  of 
Florida,  per  acre,  of  merchantable  leaf.  In  favorable  localities  this  was  con 
siderably  exceeded,  he  said.  For  chewing-tobacco,  the  cut  plant  is  piled  but 
once. 

For  four  hundred  acres  of  tobacco,  about  one  hundred  and  twenty -five 
Chinese  were  employed  in  cutting  and  curing.  After  planting  and  up  to  the 
cutting  season  they  had  but  fifty  men  employed.  The  Chinese  receive  one 
dollar  a  day  and  board  themselves,  living  an  apparently  jolly  life  in  shanties 
near  the  fields. 

They  get  their  Havana  seed  from  Cuba.  The  Patent  Office  seed  did  not  do 
well.  They  do  not  like  to  risk  seed  of  their  own  plants.  He  used  home-grown 
seed  for  nine  years ;  he  could  not  say  that  there  was  a  serious  deterioration  or 
change  in  the  quality  of  the  tobacco,  but  a  singular  change  in  the  form  of  the 
leaf  took  place.  That  from  home-grown  seed  gets  longer,  and  the  veins  or 
ribs,  which  in  Havana  tobacco  stand  out  at  right  angles  from  the  leaf  stalk, 
take  an  acute  angle,  and  thus  become  longer  and  make  up  a  greater  part  of 
the  leaf.  Of  Florida  tobacco  the  home-grown  seed  comes  true. 

In  summer  the  roads  get  very  dusty  in  California,  and  this  dust  is  a  dis 
advantage  to  the  tobacco  planter.  On  the  Culp  farm  I  found  they  were  plant 
ing  double  rows  of  shade  trees  along  the  main  roads,  and  graveling  the  inte 
rior  roads ;  also,  they  seem  to  feel  the  high  winds  which  sweep  through  the 
California  valleys,  and  were  planting  almonds  and  cotton  -  woods  for  wind 
breaks  in  the  fields.  It  seemed  odd  to  see  long  rows  of  almond-trees  used  for 
this  purpose. 

This  process  has  so  far  won  the  confidence  of  experts  in  tobacco  in  this 
State,  that  a  company  with  large  capital  has  undertaken  not  only  the  raising 
of  tobacco  by  its  method,  but  also  the  manufacture  into  cigars,  and  plug, 
smoking,  and  fine-cut  chewing-tobacco.  They  are  just  beginning  operations 
in  Gilroy,  on  a  scale  which  will  enable  them  to  manufacture  all  the  tobacco 
grown  this  year  on 'about  six  hundred  acres,  and  they  mean  to  plant  next  year 
one  thousand  acres,  and  expect  that  from  fifteen  hundred  to  two  thousand 


TOBACCO  CULTURE,  ETC.  195 

acres  will  be  planted  and  cured  by  others  under  licenses  from  the  patentee. 
Commercially,  of  course,  their  undertaking  is  yet  an  experiment,  though  excel 
lent  cigars  and  tobacco  have  been  made  already;  but  the  year  1874  will  decide 
the  result ;  and  if  it  should  prove  as  successful  as  is  hoped,  and  as  there  is 
good  cause  to  believe  it  will,  a  new  and  very  profitable  branch  of  agriculture 
will  be  opened  for  the  farmers  of  this  State ;  for  tobacco  will  grow  in  almost 
all  parts  of  it. 


196     NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


KtTNNING   THE   ROOKEIUE8 — GATHKKLNU   MUKKE   EGUB. 


CHAPTER  XII. 
THE  FARALLON  ISLANDS. 

TF  you  approach  the  harbor  of  San  Francisco  from  the  west,  your  first  sight 
-*-  of  land  will  be  4  collection  of  picturesque  rocks  known  as  the  Farallones, 
or,  more  fully,  the  Farallones  de  los  Frayles.  They  are  six  rugged  islets, 
whose  peaks  lift  up  their  heads  in  picturesque  masses  out  of  the  ocean,  twen 
ty-three  and  a  half  miles  from  the  Golden  Gate,  the  famous  entrance  of  San 
Francisco  Bay.  Farallon  is  a  Spanish  word,  meaning  a  small  pointed  islet  in 
the  sea. 

These  rocks,  probably  of  volcanic  origin,  and  bare  and  desolate,  lie  in  a  line 
from  south-east  to  north-west — curiously  enough  the  same  line  in  which  *he  isl- 


THE  FARALLON  ISLANDS.  197 

ands  of  the  Hawaiian  or  Sandwich  Island  group  have  been  thrown  up.  Geol 
ogists  say  they  are  the  outcrop  of  an  immense  granite  dike. 

The  southernmost  island,  which  is  the  largest — just  as  Hawaii,  the  south 
ernmost  of  the  Sandwich  Island  group,  is  also  the  biggest — extends  for  nearly 
a  mile  east  and  west,  and  is  three  hundred  and  forty  feet  high.  It  is  composed 
of  broken  and  water-worn  rocks,  forming  numerous  angular  peaks,  and  having 
several  caves;  and  the  rock,  mostly  barren  and  bare,  has  here  and  there  a 
few  weeds  and  a  little  grass.  At  one  point  there  is  a  small  beach,  and  at  an 
other  a  depression ;  but  the  fury  of  the  waves  makes  landing  at  all  times  diffi 
cult,  and  for  the  most  part  impossible. 

The  Farallones  are  seldom  visited  by  travelers  or  pleasure  -  seekers.  The 
wind  blows  fiercely  here  most  of  the  time ;  the  ocean  is  rough ;  and,  to  persons 
subject  to  sea-sickness,  the  short  voyage  is  filled  with  the  misery  of  that  dis 
ease.  Yet  they  contain  a  great  deal  that  is  strange  arid  curious.  On  the  high 
est  point  of  the  South  Farallon  the  Government  has  placed  a  light -house,  a 
brick  tower  seventeen  feet  high,  surmounted  by  a  lantern  and  illuminating  ap 
paratus.  It  is  a  revolving  white  light,  showing  a  prolonged  flash  of  ten  sec 
onds  duration  once  in  a  minute.  The  light  is  about  three  hundred  and  sixty 
feet  above  the  sea,  and  with  a  clear  atmosphere  is  visible,  from  a  position  ten 
feet  high,  twenty-five  and  a  half  miles  distant ;  from  an  elevation  of  sixty  feet, 
it  can  be  seen  nearly  thirty-one  miles  away ;  and  it  is  plainly  visible  from  Sul 
phur  Peak  on  the  main-land,  thirty-four  hundred  and  seventy-one  feet  high, 
and  sixty-four  and  a  half  miles  distant.  The  light-house  is  in  latitude  37°  41' 
8"  north,  and  longitude  12.2°  59'  05"  west. 

On  our  foggy  Western  coast  it  has  been  necessary  to  place  the  light-houses 
low,  because  if  they  stood  too  high  their  light  would  be  hidden  in  fog-banks 
and  low  clouds.  The  tower  on  the  South  Farallon  is,  therefore,  low ;  and  this, 
no  doubt,  is  an  advantage  also  to  the  light-keepers,  who  are  less  exposed  to 
the  bufferings  of  the  storm  than  if  their  labor  and  care  lay  at  a  higher  ele 
vation. 

As  the  Farallones  lie  in  the  track  of  vessels  coming  from  the  westward  to 
San  Francisco,  the  light  is  one  of  the  most  important,  as  it  is  also  one  of  the 
most  powerful  on  our  Western  coast ;  and  it  is  supplemented  by  a  fog- whistle, 
which  is  one  of  the  most  curious  contrivances  of  this  kind  in  the  world.  It  is 
a  huge  trumpet,  six  inches  in  diameter  at  its  smaller  end,  and  blown  by  the 
rush  of  air  through  a  cave  or  passage  connecting  with  the  ocean. 

One  of  the  numerous  caves  worn  into  the  rocks  by  the  surf  had  a  hole  at 
the  top,  through  which  the  incoming  breakers  violently  expelled  the  air  they 
carried  before  them.  Such  spout-holes  are  not  uncommon  on  rugged,  rocky 
coasts.  There  are  several  on  the  Mendocino  coast,  and  a  number  on  the  shores 
of  the  Sandwich  Islands.  This  one,  however,  has  been  utilized  by  the  ingenuity 
of  man.  The  mouth-piece  of  the  trumpet  or  fog-whistle  is  fixed  against  the 


198     NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


LIGHT-HOUSE   ON    TUB    BOCTil    FAKALLON. 


aperture  in  the  rock,  and  the  breaker,. dashing  in  with  venomous  spite,  or  the 
huge  bulging  wave  which  would  dash  a  ship  to  pieces  and  drown  her  crew  in 
a  single  effort,  now  blows  the  fog-whistle  and  warns  the  mariner  off.  The 
sound  thus  produced  has  been  heard  at  a  distance  of  seven  or  eight  miles.  It 
has  a  peculiar  effect,  because  it  has  no  regular  period ;  depending  upon  the 
irregular  coming  in  of  the  waves,  and  upon  their  similarly  irregular  force,  it 
is  blown  somewhat  as  an  idle  boy  would  blow  his  penny  trumpet.  It  ceases 
entirely  for  an  hour  and  a  half  at  low  water,  when  the  mouth  of  the  cave  or 
passage  is  exposed. 

The  life  of  the  keepers  of  the  Farallon  light  is  singularly  lonely  and  monot 
onous.  Their  house  is  built  somewhat  under  the  shelter  of  the  rocks,  but  they 
live  in  what  to  a  landsman  would  seem  a  perpetual  storm ;  the  ocean  roars  in 
their  ears  day  and  night;  the  boom  of  the  surf  is  their  constant  and  only 


THE  FARALLON  ISLANDS 


199 


ARCH   AT   WEST   END,  FAKALLON    I6LANDS. 


music ;  the  wild  scream  of  the  sea-birds,  the  howl  of  the  sea-lions,  the  whistle 
and  shriek  of  the  gale,  the  dull,  threatening  thunder  of  the  vast  breakers,  are 
the  dreary  and  desolate  sounds  which  lull  them  to  sleep  at  night,  and  assail 
their  ears  when  they  awake.  In  the  winter  months  even  their  supply  vessel, 
which,  for  the  most  part,  is  their  only  connection  with  the  world,  is  sometimes 
unable  to  make  a  landing  for  weeks  at  a  time.  Chance  visitors  they  see  only 


200    NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

occasionally,  and  at  that  distance  at  which  a  steamer  is  safe  from  the  surf,  and 
at  which  a  girl  could  not  even  recognize  her  lover.  The  commerce  of  San 
Francisco  passes  before  their  eyes,  but  so  far  away  that  they  can  not  tell  the 
ships  and  steamers  which  sail  by  them  voiceless  and  without  greeting ;  and  of 
the  events  passing  on  the  planet  with  which  they  have  so  frail  a  social  tie  they 
learn  only  at  long  and  irregular  intervals.  The  change  from  sunshine  to  fog 
is  the  chief  variety  in  their  lives ;  the  hasty  landing  of  supplies  the  great  event 
in  their  months.  They  can  not  even  watch  the  growth  of  trees  and  plants; 
and  to  a  child  born  and  reared  in  such  a  place,  a  sunny  lee  under  the  shelter 
of  rocks  is  probably  the  ideal  of  human  felicity. 

Except  the  rock  of  Tristan  d'Acunha  in  the  Southern  Atlantic  Ocean,  I  have 
never  seen  an  inhabited  spot  which  seemed  so  utterly  desolate,  so  entirely 
separated  from  the  world,  whose  people  appeared  to  me  to  have  such  a  slender 
hold  on  mankind.  Yet  for  their  solace  they  know  that  a  powerful  Government 
watches  over  their  welfare,  and  —  if  that  is  any  comfort  —  that,  thirty  miles 
away,  there  are  lights  and  music  and  laughter  and  singing,  as  well  as  crowds, 
and  all  the  anxieties  and  annoyances  incidental  to  what  we  are  pleased  to  call 
civilization. 

But  though  these  lonely  rocks  contain  but  a  small  society  of  human  beings — 
the  keepers  and  their  families — they  are  filled  with  animal  life ;  for  they  are 
the  home  of  a  multitude  of  sea-lions,  and  of  vast  numbers  of  birds  and  rabbits. 

The  rabbits,  which  live  on  the  scanty  herbage  growing  among  the  rocks,  are 
descended  from  a  few  pair  brought  here  many  years  ago,  when  some  specula 
tive  genius  thought  to  make  a  huge  rabbit-warren  of  these  rocks  for  the  supply 
of  the  San  Francisco  market.  These  little  animals  are  not  very  wild.  In  the 
dry  season  they  feed  on  the  bulbous  roots  of  the  grass,  and  sometimes  they 
suffer  from  famine.  In  the  winter  and  spring  they  are  fat,  and  then  their  meat 
is  white  and  sweet.  During  summer  and  fall  they  are  not  fit  to  eat. 

They  increase  very  rapidly,  and  at  not  infrequent  intervals  they  overpopu- 
late  the  island,  and  then  perish  by  hundreds  of  starvation  and  the  diseases 
which  follow  a  too  meagre  diet.  They  are  of  all  colors,  and  though  descended 
from  some  pairs  of  tame  white  rabbits,  seem  to  have  reverted  in  color  to  the 
wild  race  from  which  they  originated. 

The  Farallones  have  no  snakes. 

The  sea-lions,  which  congregate  by  thousands  upon  the  cliffs,  and  bark,  and 
howl,  and  shriek  and  roar  in  the  caves  and  upon  the  steep  sunny  slopes,  are  but 
little  disturbed,  and  one  can  usually  approach  them  within  twenty  or  thirty 
yards.  It  is  an  extraordinarily  interesting  sight  to  see  these  marine  mon 
sters,  many  of  them  bigger  than  an  ox,  at  play  in  the  surf,  and  to  watch  the 
superb  skill  with  which  they  know  how  to  control  their  own  motions  when 
a  huge  wave  seizes  them,  and  seems  likely  to  dash  them  to  pieces  against 
the  rocks.  They  love  to  lie  in  the  sun  upon  the  bare  and  warm  rocks;  and 


THE  FARALLON  ISLANDS. 


201 


6EA-LION8. 


here  they  sleep,  crowded  together,  and  lying  upon  each  other  in  inextricable 
confusion. 

The  bigger  the  animal,  the  greater  his  ambition  appears  to  be  to  climb  to 
the  highest  summit ;  and  when  a  huge,  slimy  beast  has  with  infinite  squirming 
attained  a  solitary  peak,  he  does  not  tire  of  raising  his  sharp-pointed,  maggot- 


202    NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

like  head,  and  complacently  looking  about  him.  They  are  a  rough  set  of  brutes 
— rank  bullies,  I  should  say ;  for  I  have  watched  them  repeatedly  as  a  big  one 
shouldered  his  way  among  his  fellows,  reared  his  huge  front  to  intimidate  some 
lesser  seal  which  had  secured  a  favorite  spot,  and  first  with  howls,  and  if  this 
did  not  suffice,  with  teeth  and  main  force,  expelled  the  weaker  from  his  lodg 
ment.  The  smaller  sea-lions,  at  least  those  which  have  left  their  mothers,  ap 
pear  to  have  no  rights  which  any  one  is  bound  to  respect.  They  get  out  of 
the  way  with  an  abject  promptness  which  proves  that  they  live  in  terror  of 
the  stronger  members  of  the  community;  but  they  do  not  give  up  their  places 
without  harsh  complaints  and  piteous  groans. 

Plastered  against  the  rocks,  and  with  their  lithe  and  apparently  boneless 
shapes  conformed  to  the  rude  and  sharp  angles,  they  are  a  wonderful,  but  not 
a  graceful  or  pleasing  sight.  At  a  little  distance  they  look  like  huge  maggots, 
and  their  slow,  ungainly  motions  upon  the  land  do  not  lessen  this  resemblance. 
Swimming  in  the  ocean,  at  a  distance  from  the  land,  they  are  inconspicuous 
objects,  as  nothing  but  the  head  shows  above  water,  and  that  only  at  intervals. 
But  when  the  vast  surf  which  breaks  in  mountain  waves  against  the  weather 
side  of  the  Farallones  writh  a  force  which  would  in  a  single  sweep  dash  to 
pieces  the  biggest  Indiaman — when  such  a  surf,  vehemently  and  with  apparent 
ly  irresistible  might,  lifts  its  tall  white  head,  and  with  a  deadly  roar  lashes  the 
rocks  half-way  to  their  summit — then  it  is  a  magnificent  sight  to  see  a  dozen 
or  half  a  hundred  great  sea-lions  at  play  in  the  very  midst  and  fiercest  part  of 
the  boiling  surge,  so  completely  masters  of  the  situation  that  they  allow  them 
selves  to  be  carried  within  a  foot  or  two  of  the  rocks,  and  at  the  last  and  im 
minent  moment,  with  an  adroit  twist  of  their  bodies,  avoid  the  shock,  and, 
diving,  re-appear  beyond  the  breaker. 

As  I  sat,  fascinated  with  this  weird  spectacle  of  the  sea-lions,  which  seemed 
to  me  like  an  unhallowed  prying  into  some  hidden  and  monstrous  secret  of 
nature,  I  could  better  realize  the  fantastic  and  brutal  wildness  of  life  in  the 
earlier  geological  ages,  when  monsters  and  chimeras  dire  wallowed  about  our 
unripe  planet,  and  brute  force  of  muscles  and  lungs  ruled  among  the  populous 
hordes  of  beasts  which,  fortunately  for  us,  have  perished,  leaving  us  only  this 
great  wild  sea -beast  as  a  faint  reminiscence  of  their  existence.  I  wondered 
what  Dante  would  have  thought — and  what  new  horrors  his  gloomy  imagina 
tion  would  have  conjured,  could  he  have  watched  this  thousand  or  two  of  sea- 
lions  at  their  sports. 

The  small,  sloping,  pointed  head  of  the  creature  gives  it,  to  me,  a  peculiarly 
horrible  appearance.  It  seems  to  have  no  brain,  and  presents  an  image  of  life 
with  the  least  intelligence.  It  is  in  reality  not  without  wits,  for  one  needs 
only  to  watch  the  two  or  three  specimens  in  the  great  tank  at  Woodward's 
Gardens,  when  they  are  getting  fed,  to  see  that  they  instantly  recognize  their 
keeper,  and  understand  his  voice  and  motion.  But  all  their  wit  is  applied  to 


THE  FARALLON  ISLANDS.  203 

the  basest  uses.  Greed  for  food  is  their  ruling  passion,  and  the  monstrous 
lightning-like  lunges  through  the  water,, the  inarticulate  shrieks  of  pleasure  or 
of  fury  as  he  dashes  after  his  food  or  comes  up  without  it,  the  wild,  fierce 
eyes,  the  eager  and  brutal  vigor  with  which  he  snatches  a  morsel  from  a  small 
er  fellow  -  creature,  the  reliance  on  strength  alone,  and  the  abject  and  panic- 
struck  submission  of  the  weaker  to  the  stronger — all  this  shows  him  a  brute  of 
the  lowest  character. 

Yet  there  is  a  wonderful  snake-like  grace  in  the  lithe,  swift  motions  of  the 
animal  when  he  is  in  the  surf.  You  forget  the  savage  blood-shot  eyes,  the 
receding  forehead,  the  clumsy  figure  and  awkward  motion,  as  he  wriggles  up 
the  steep  rocks,  the  moment  you  see  him  at  his  supurb  sport  in  the  breakers. 
It  seemed  to  me  that  he  was  another  creature.  The  eye  looks  less  baleful,  and 
even  joyous ;  every  movement  discloses  conscious  power ;  the  excitement  of 
the  sport  sheds  from  him  somewhat  of  the  brutality  which  re-appears  the  mo 
ment  he  lands  or  seeks  his  food. 

So  far  as  I  could  learo,  the  Farallon  sea-lions  are  seldom  disturbed  by  men 
seeking  profit  from  them.  In  the  egging  season  one  or  two  are  shot  to  supply 
oil  to  the  lamps  of  the  eggers ;  and  occasionally  one  is  caught  for  exhibition 
on  the  main-land.  How  do  they  catch  a  sea-lion?  Well,  they  lasso  hini,"aiid, 
odd  as  it  sounds,  it  is  the  best  and  probably  the  only  way  to  capture  this 
beast.  An  adroit  Spaniard,  to  whom  the  lasso  or  reata  is  like  a  fifth  hand,  or 
like  the  trunk  to  the  elephant,  steals  up  to  a  sleeping  congregation,  fastens  his 
eye  on  the  biggest  one  of  the  lot,  and,  biding  his  time,  at  the  first  motion  of 
the  animal,  with  unerring  skill  flings  his  loose  rawhide  noose,  and  then  holds 
on  for  dear  life.  It  is  the  weight  of  an  ox  and  the  vigor  of  half  a  dozen  that 
he  has  tugging  at  the  other  end  of  his  rope,  and  if  a  score  of  men  did  not  stand 
ready  to  help,  and  if  it  were  not  possible  to  take  a  turn  of  the  reata  around  a 
solid  rock,  the  seal  would  surely  get  away. 

Moreover,  they  must  handle  the  beast  tenderly,  for  it  is  easily  injured.  Its 
skin,  softened  by  its  life  in  the  water,  is  quickly  cut  by  the  rope ;  its  bones  are 
easily  broken ;  and  its  huge  frame,  too  rudely  treated,  may  be  so  hurt  that  the 
life  dies  out  of  it.  As  quickly  as  possible  the  captured  sea-lion  is  stuffed  into 
a  strong  box  or  cage,  and  here,  in  a  cell  too  narrow  to  permit  movement,  it 
roars  and  yelps  in  helpless  fury,  until  it  is  transported  to  its  tank.  Wild  and 
fierce  as  it  is,  it  seems  to  reconcile  itself  to  the  tank  life  very  rapidly.  If  the 
narrow  space  of  its  big  bath-tub  frets  it,  you  do  not  perceive  this,  for  hunger 
is  its  chief  passion,  and  with  a  moderately  full  stomach  the  animal  does  well 
in  captivity,  of  course  with  sufficient  water. 

The  South  Farallon  is  the  only  inhabited  one  of  the  group.  The  remainder 
are  smaller;  mere  rocky  points  sticking  up  out  of  the  Pacific.  The' Middle 
Farallon  is  a  single  rock,  from  fifty  to  sixty  yards  in  diameter,  and  twenty  or 
thirty  feet  above  the  water.  It  lies  two  and  a  half  miles  north-west  by  west 


204    NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


from  the  light-house.  The  North  Farallon  consists,  in  fact,  of  four  pyramidal 
rocks,  whose  highest  peak,  in  the  centre  of  the  group,  is  one  hundred  and  sixty 
feet  high ;  the  southern  rock  of  the  four  is  twenty  feet  high.  The  four  have 
a  diameter  of  one  hundred  and  sixty,  one  hundred  and  eighty -five,  one  hun 
dred  and  twenty-five,  and  thirty-five  yards  respectively,  and  the  most  northern 
of  the  islets  bears  north  64°  west  from  the  Farallon  light,  six  and  three-fifths 
miles  distant. 

All  the  islands  are  frequented  by  birds ;  but  the  largest,  the  South  Farallon, 
on  which  the  light-house  stands,  is  the  favorite  resort  of  these  creatures,  who 
come  here  in  astonishing  numbers  every  summer  to  breed ;  and  it  is  to  this 
island  that  the  eggers  resort  at  that  season  to  obtain  supplies  of  sea-birds' 
eggs  for  the  San  Francisco  market,  where  they  have  a  regular  and  large  sale. 

The  birds  which  breed  upon  the  Farallones  are  gulls,  murres,  shags,  and  sea- 
parrots,  the  last  a  kind  of  penguin.  The  eggs  of  the  shags  and  parrots  are  not 

used,  but  the  eggers  destroy  them  to 
make  more  roqm  for  the  other  birds. 
The  gull  begins  to  lay  about  the  mid 
dle  of  May,  and  usually  ten  days  be 
fore  the  murre.  The  gull  makes  a 
rude  nest  of  brush  and  sea-weed  upon 
the  rocks;  the  murre  does  not  take 
even  this  much  trouble,  but  lays  its 
eggs  in  any  convenient  place  on  the 
bare  rocks. 

The  gull  is  soon  through,  but  the 
murre  continues  to  lay  for  about  two 
months.  The  egging  season  lasts, 
therefore,  from  the  10th  or  20th  of 
May  until  the  last  of  July.  In  this 
period  the  egg  company  which  has  for  eighteen  years  worked  this  field  gath 
ered  in  1872  seventeen  thousand  nine  hundred  and  fifty-two  dozen  eggs,  and 
in  1873  fifteen  thousand  two  hundred  and  three  dozen.  These  brought  last 
year  in  the  market  an  average  of  twenty-six  cents  per  dozen.  There  has  been, 
I  was  assured  by  the  manager,  no  sensible  decrease  in  the  number  of  the  birds 
or  the  eggs  during  twenty  years. 

From  fifteen  to  twenty  men  are  employed  during  the  egging  season  in  col 
lecting  and  shipping  the  eggs.  They  live  on  the  island  during  that  time  in 
rude  shanties  near  the  usual  landing-place.  The  work  is  not  amusing,  for  the 
birds  seek  out  the  least  accessible  places,  and  the  men  must  follow,  climbing 
often  where  a  goat  would  almost  hesitate.  But  this  is  not  the  worst.  The 
gull  sits  on  her  nest,  and  resists  the  robber  who  comes  for  her  eggs,  and  he 
must  take  care  not  to  get  bitten.  The  murre  remains  until  her  enemy  is  close 


THE   GULL'S    NEST. 


THE  FARALLON  ISLANDS. 


205 


upon  her ;  then  she  rises  with  a  scream  which  often  startles  a  thousand  or  two 
of  birds,  who  whirl  up  into  the  air  in  a  dense  mass,  scattering  filth  and  guano 
over  the  eggers. 

Nor  is  this  all.  The  gulls,  whose  season  of  breeding  is  soon  past,  are  ex 
travagantly  fond  of  murre  eggs;  and  these  rapacious  birds  follow  the  egg- 
gatherers,  hover  over  their  heads,  and  no  sooner  is  a  murre's  nest  uncovered 
than  the  bird  swoops  down,  and  the  egger  must  be  extremely  quick,  or  the 
gull  will  snatch  the  prize  from  under  his  nose.  So  greedy  and  eager  are  the 
gulls  that  they  sometimes  even  wound  the  eggers,  striking  them  with  their 


8I1AG8,  MUKRES,  AMD   SEA-GULLS. 

beaks.  But  if  the  gull  gets  an  egg,  he  flies  up  with  it,  and,  tossing  it  up,  swal 
lows  what  he  can  catch,  letting  the  shell  and  half  its  contents  fall  in  a  shower 
upon  the  luckless  and  disappointed  egger  below. 

Finally,  so  difficult  is  the  ground  that  it  is  impossible  to  carry  baskets.  The 
egger  therefore  stuffs  the  eggs  into  his  shirt  bosom  until  he  has  as  many  as 
he  can  safely  carry,  then  clambers  over  rocks  and  down  precipices  until  he 
comes  to  a  place  of  deposit,  where  he  puts  them  into  baskets,  to  be  carried 
down  to  the  shore,  where  there  are  houses  for  receiving  them.  But  so  skillful 
and  careful  are  the  gatherers  that  but  few  eggs  are  broken. 

The  gathering  proceeds  daily,  when  it  has  once  begun,  and  the  whole  ground 


206     NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


is  carefully  cleared  off,  so  that  no  stale 
eggs  shall  remain.  Thus  if  a  portion 
of  the  ground  has  been  neglected  for 
a  day  or  two,  all  the  eggs  must  be 
flung  into  the  sea,  so  as  to  begin 
afresh.  As  the  season  advances,  the 
operations  are  somewhat  contracted, 
leaving  a  part  of  the  island  undis 
turbed  for  breeding;  and  the  gather 
ing  of  eggs  is  stopped  entirely  about 

a  month  before  the  birds  usually  leave  the  island,  so  as  to  give  them  all  an 

opportunity  to  hatch  out  a  brood. 

The  murre  is  not  good  to  eat.     If  undisturbed  it  lays  two  eggs  only ;  when 

robbed,  it  will  keep  on  laying  until  it  has  produced  six  or  even  eight  eggs; 

and  the  manager  of  the  islands  told  me  that  he  had  found  as  many  as  eight 

eggs  forming  in  a  bird's  ovaries  when  he  killed  and  opened  it  in  the  beginning 


CONTEST    FOB   THE    E( 


THE  FARALLON  ISLANDS.  207 

of  the  season.  The  male  bird  regularly  relieves  the  female  on  the  nest,  and 
also  watches  to  resist  the  attacks  of  the  gull,  which  not  only  destroys  the  eggs, 
but  also  eats  the  young.  The  murre  feeds  on  sea -grass  and  jelly -.fish,  and  I 
was  assured  that  though  some  hundreds  had  been  examined  at  different  times, 
no  fish  had  ever  been  found  in  a  murre's  stomach. 

The  bird  is  small,  about  the  size  of  a  half-grown  duck,  but  its  egg  is  as  large 
as  a  goose  egg.  The  egg  is  brown  or  greenish,  and  speckled.  When  quite 
fresh  it  has  no  fishy  taste,  but  when  two  or  three  days  old  the  fishy  taste  be 
comes  perceptible.  They  are  largely  used  in  San  Francisco  by  the  restaurants 
and  bakers,  and  for  omelets,  cakes,  and  custards. 

During  the  height  of  the  egging  season  the  gulls  hover  in  clouds  over  the 
rocks,  and  when  a  rookery  is  started,  and  the  poor  birds  leave  their  nests  by 
hundreds,  the  air  is  presently  alive  with  gulls  flying  off  with  the  eggs,  and  the 
eggers  are  sometimes  literally  drenched. 

There  is  thus  inevitably  a  considerable  waste  of  eggs.  I  asked  some  of  the 
eggers  how  many  murres  nested  on  the  South  Farallon,  and  they  thought  at 
least  one  hundred  thousand.  I  do  not  suppose  this  an  extravagant  estimate, 
for?  taking  the  season  of  1872,  when  seventeen  thousand  nine  hundred  and 
fifty-two  dozen  eggs  were  actually  sold  in  San  Francisco,  and  allowing  half  a 
dozen  to  each  murre,  this  would  give  nearly  thirty  -  six  thousand  birds ;  and 
adding  the  proper  number  for  eggs  broken,  destroyed  by  gulls,  and  not  gath 
ered,  the  number  of  murres  and  gulls  is  probably  over  one  hundred  thousand. 
This  on  an  island  less  than  a  mile  in  its  greatest  diameter,  and  partly  occupied 
by  the  light-house  and  fog- whistle  and  their  keepers,  and  by  other  birds  and  a 
large  number  of  sea-lions  ! 

When  they  are  done  laying,  and  when  the  young  can  fly,  the  birds  leave  the 
island,  usually  going  off  together.  During  the  summer  and  fall  they  return 
in  clouds  at  intervals,  but  stay  only  a  few  days  at  a  time,  though  there  are  gen 
erally  a  few  to  be  found  at  all  times ;  and  I  am  told  that  eggs  in  small  quanti 
ties  can  be  found  in  the  fall. 

The  murre  does  not  fly  high,  nor  is  it  a  very  active  bird,  or  apparently  of 
long  flight.  But  the  eggers  say  that  when  it  leaves  the  island  they  do  not 
know  whither  it  goes,  and  they  assert  that  it  is  not  abundant  on  the  neighbor 
ing  coast.  The  young  begin  to  fly  when  they  are  two  weeks  old,  and  the  par 
ents  usually  take  them  immediately  into  the  water. 

The  sea-parrot  has  a  crest,  and  somewhat  resembles  a  cockatoo.  Its  num 
bers  on  the  South  Farallon  are  not  great.  It  makes  a  nest  in  a  hole  in  the 
rocks,  and  bites  if  it  is  disturbed.  The  island  was  first  used  as  a  sealing  sta 
tion  ;  but  this  was  not  remunerative,  there  being  but  very  few  fur  seal,  and  no 
sea-otters.  This  animal,  which  abounds  in  Alaska,  and  is  found  occasionally  on 
the  southern  coast  of  California,  frequents  the  masses  of  kelp  which  line  the 
shore ;  but  there  is  no  kelp  about  the  Farallones. 


208    NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

In  the  early  times  of  California,  when  provisions  were  high-priced,  the  egg- 
gatherers  sometimes  got  great  gains.  Once,  in  1853,  a  boat  absent  but  three 
days  brought  in  one  thousand  dozen,  and  sold  the  whole  cargo  at  a  dollar  a 
dozen ;  and  in  one  season  thirty  thousand  dozen  were  gathered,  and  brought 
an  average  of  but  little  less  than  this  price. 


THE   GKEAT   KOOKKBY. 


Of  course  there  was  an  egg  war.  The  prize  was  too  great  not  to  be  strug 
gled  for;  and  the  rage  of  the  conflicting  claimants  grew  to  such  a  pitch  that 
guns  were  used  and  lives  were  threatened,  and  at  last  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  had  to  interfere  to  keep  the  peace.  But  with  lower  prices  the 
strife  ceased ;  the  present  company  bought  out,  I  believe,  all  adverse  claims, 
and  for  the  last  fifteen  or  sixteen  years  peace  has  reigned  in  this  part  of  the 
county  of  San  Francisco — for  these  lonely  islets  are  a  part  of  the  same  county 
with  the  metropolis  of  the  Pacific. 


THE  COLUMBIA  RIVER  AND  PUGET  SOUND.  209 


INDIAN  GIEL8  AND  CANOE,  1TGET  SOUND. 

• 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE  COLUMBIA  RIVER  AND  PUGET  SOUND— HINTS  TO  TOURISTS. 

TN  less  than  forty-eight  hours  after  you  leave  San  Francisco  you  find  yourself 
-•-•crossing  the  bar  which  lies  at  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  River,  and  laugh 
ing,  perhaps,  over  the  oft-told  local  tale  of  how  a  captain,  new  to  this  region, 
lying  off  and  on  with  his  vessel,  and  impatiently  signaling  for  a  pilot,  was  tem 
porarily  comforted  by  a  passenger,  an  old  Californian,  who  "  wondered  why 
Jim  over  there  couldn't  take  her  safe  over  the  bar." 

"Do  you  think  he  knows  the  soundings  wrell  enough?"  asked  the  anxious 
skipper ;  and  was  answered, 

"  I  don't  know  about  that,  captain ;  but  he's  been  taking  all  sorts  of  things 
( straight'  over  the  bar  for  about  twenty  years,  to  my  knowledge,  and  I  should 
think  he  might  manage  the  brig." 

The  voyage  from  San  Francisco  is  almost  all  the  way  in  sight  of  land ;  and 
as  you  skirt  the  mountainous  coast  of  Oregon  you  see  long  stretches  of  forest, 
miles  of  tall  firs  killed  by  forest  fires,  and  rearing  their  bare  heads  toward  the 
sky  like  a  vast  assemblage  of  bean-poles — a  barren  view  which  you  owe  to  the 
noble  red  man,  who,  it  is  said,  sets  fire  to  these  great  woods  in  order  to  pro 
duce  for  himself  a  good  crop  of  blueberries. 

When,  some  years  ago,  Walk  -  in  -  the  -  Water,  or  Red  Cloud,  or  some  other 
Colorado  chief,  asserted  in  Washington  the  right  of  the  Indian  to  hunt  buffa 
lo,  on  the  familiar  ground  that  he  must  live,  a  journalist  given  to  figures  de 
molished  the  Indian  position  by  demonstrating  that  a  race  which  insisted  on 
living  on  buffalo  meat  required  about  sixteen  thousand  acres  of  land  per  head 
for  its  subsistence,  which  is  more  than  even  we  can  spare.  One  wonders,  re- 

14 


210    NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

membering  these  figures,  how  many  millions  of  feet  of  first-class  lumber  are 
sacrificed  to  provide  an  Indian  rancheria  in  Oregon  with  huckleberries. 

On  the  second  morning  of  your  voyage  you  enter  the  Columbia  River,  and 
stop,  on  the  right  bank,  near  the  mouth,  at  a  place  famous  in  history  and  ro 
mance,  and  fearfully  disappointing  to  the  actual  view  —  Astoria.  When  you 
have  seen  it,  you  will  wish  you  had  passed  it  by  unseen.  I  do  not  know  pre 
cisely  how  it  ought  to  have  looked  to  have  pleased  my  fancy,  and  realized  the 
dreams  of  my  boyhood,  when  I  read  Bonneville's  "  Journal "  and  Irving's  "Asto 
ria,"  and  imagined  Astoria  to  be  the  home  of  romance  and  of  picturesque  trap 
pers.  Any  thing  less  romantic  than  Astoria  is  to-day  you  can  scarcely  imag 
ine  ;  and  what  is  worse  yet,  your  first  view  shows  you  that  the  narrow,  bro 
ken,  irreclaimably  rough  strip  of  land  never  had  space  for  any  thing  pictur 
esque  or  romantic. 

Astoria,  in  truth,  consists  of  a  very  narrow  strip  of  hill-side,  backed  by  a  hill 
so  steep  that  they  can  shoot  timber  down  it,  and  inclosed  on  every  side  by 
dense  forests,  high,  steep  hills,  and  mud  flats.  It  looks  like  the  rudest  Western 
clearing  you  ever  saw.  Its  brief  streets  are  paved  with  wood ;  its  inhabitants 
wear  their  trowsers  in  their  boots ;  if  you  step  off  the  pavement  you  go  deep 
into  the  mud ;  and  ten  minutes'  walk  brings  you  to  the  "  forest  primeval," 
which,  picturesque  as  it  may  be  in  poetry,  I  confess  to  be  dreary  and  monoto 
nous  in  the  extreme  in  reality. 

There  are  but  few  remains  of  the  old  trapper  station — one  somewhat  large 
house  is  the  chief  relic;  but  there  is  a  saw-mill,  which  seems  to  make,  with  all 
its  buzz  and  fuzz,  scarcely  an  appreciable  impression  upon  the  belt  of  timber 
which  so  shuts  in  Astoria  that  I  thought  I  had  scarcely  room  in  it  to  draw  a 
full  breath ;  and  over  to  the  left  they  pointed  out  to  me  the  residence  of  a 
gentleman — a  general,  I  think  he  was — who  came  hither  twenty-six  years  ago 
in  some  official  position,  and  had  after  a  quarter  of  a  century  gained  what  look 
ed  to  me  from  the  steamer's  deck  like  a  precarious  ten-acre  lot  from  the  "  for 
est  primeval,"  about  enough  room  to  bury  himself  and  family  in,  with  a  proba 
bility  that  the  firs  would  crowd  them  into  the  Columbia  River  if  the  saw-mill 
should  break  down. 

On  the  voyage  up  I  said  to  an  Oregonian, "  You  have  a  good  timber  country, 
I  hear?"  and  his  reply  seemed  to  me  at  the  time  extravagant.  "Timber?"  he 
said;  "timber — till  you  can't  sleep."  When  I  had  spent  a  day  and  a  half  at 
anchor  abreast  of  Astoria,  the  words  appeared  less  exaggerated.  Wherever 
you  look  you  see  only  timber;  tall  firs,  straight  as  an  arrow,  big  as  the  Cali 
fornia  redwoods,  and  dense  as  a  Southern  canebrake.  On  your  right  is  Oregon 
— its  hill-sides  a  forest  so  dense  that  jungle  would  be  as  fit  a  word  for  it  as 
timber;  on  the  left  is  Washington  Territory,  and  its  hill-sides  are  as  densely 
covered  as  those  of  the  nearer  shore.  This  interminable,  apparently  impen 
etrable,  thicket  of  firs  exercised  upon  my  mind,  I  confess,  a  gloomy,  depressing 


THE  COLUMBIA  RIVER  AND  PUGET  SOUND.  211 

influence.  The  fresh  lovely  green  of  the  evergreen  foliage,  the  wonderful  ar 
rowy  straightness  of  the  trees,  their  picturesque  attitude  where  they  cover 
headlands  and  reach  down  to  the  very  water's  edge,  all  did  not  make  up  to 
me  for  their  dreary  continuity  of  shade. 

Astoria,  however,  means  to  grow.  It  has  already  a  large  hotel,  which  the 
timber  has  crowded  down  against  the  tide-washed  flats ;  a  saw-mill,  which  is 
sawing  away  for  dear  life,  because  if  it  stopped  the  forest  would  doubtless 
push  it  into  the  river,  on  whose  brink  it  has  courageously  effected  a  lodgment ; 
some  tan-yards,  shops,  and  "  groceries ;"  and  if  you  should  wish  to  invest  in 
real  estate  here,  you  can  do  so  with  the  help  of  a  "  guide,"  which  is  distributed 
on  the  steamer,  and  tells  you  of  numerous  bargains  in  corner  lots,  etc. ;  for 
here,  as  in  that  part  of  the  West  which  lies  much  farther  east,  people  live  ap 
parently  only  to  speculate  in  real  estate. 

An  occasional  flash  of  broad  humor  enlivens  some  of  the  land  circulars  and 
advertisements.  I  found  one  on  the  hotel  table  headed  "Homes,"  with  the 

following  sample : 

221  ACRES, 

Four  miles  east  of  Silverton  ;  frame  house  and  a  log  house  (can  live  in  either) ;.  log  barn  ;  20 
acres  in  cultivation  ;  60  acres  timber  land ;  balance  pasture  land  ;  well  watered.  We  will  sell  this 
place  for  $1575.  Will  throw  in  a  cook  stove  and  all  the  household  furniture,  consisting  of  a  fry 
ing-pan  handle  and  a  broomstick ;  also  a  cow  and  a  yearling  calf;  also  one  bay  heifer;  also  8400 
Ibs.  of  hay,  minus  what  the  above-named  stock  have  consumed  during  the  winter ;  also  64  bushels 
of  oats,  subject  to  the  above-mentioned  diminution.  If  sold,  we  shall  have  left  on  our  hands  one 
of  the  driest  and  ugliest-looking  old  bachelors  this  side  of  the  grave,  which  we  will  cheerfully  throw 
in  if  at  all  acceptable  to  the  purchaser.  Old  maids  and  rich  widows  are  requested  to  give  their  par 
ticular  attention  to  this  special  offer.  Don't  pass  by  on  the  other  side. 


HOME,  SWEET  HOME! 

Be  it  ever  so  humble,  there's  no  place  like  Home ! 

We  still  have  a  few  more  "  Sweet  Homes  "  for  sale,  consisting  of, 

etc.,  etc.,  etc. 

&T  Title  perfect — a  Warrantee  Deed  from  the  hub  of  the  earth  to  the  top  of  the  skies, 
and  Uncle  Sam's  Patent  to  back  us  ! 

A  further-reaching  title  one  could  scarcely  require. 

I  don't  know  where  I  got  the  belief  that  the  Columbia  was  a  second-rate 
river.  There  must  have  been  some  blunder  in  the  geographies  out  of  which  I 
got  my  lessons  and  my  notions  of  the  North-west  coast  at  school.  Possibly, 
too,  the  knowledge  that  navigation  is  interrupted  by  rapids  at  the  Cascades 
and  Dalles  contributed  to  form  an  impression  conspicuously  wrong.  In  fact, 
the  Columbia  is  one  of  the  great  rivers  of  the  world.  It  seems  to  me  larger, 
as  it  is  infinitely  grander,  than  the  Mississippi. 

Between  Astoria  and  the  junction  of  the  Willamette  its  breadth,  its  depth, 
its  rapid  current,  and  the  vast  body  of  water  it  carries  to  sea  reminded  me  of 


212     NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


descriptions  I  had 
read  of  the  Ama 
zon  ;  and  I  sus 
pect  the  Columbia 
would  rank  with 
that  stream  were 
it  not  for  the  un 
lucky  obstructions 
at  the  Cascades 
and  Dalles,  which 
divide  the  stream 
into  two  unequal 
parts. 

For  ten  miles 
above  Astoria  the 
river  is  so  wide 
that  it  forms  real 
ly  a  vast  bay.  Then  it  narrows  some 
what,  and  the  channel  approaches  now 
one  and  then  the  other  of  its  bold,  pic 
turesque  shores,  which  often  for  miles 
resemble  the  Palisades  of  the  Hudson 
in  steepness,  and  exceed  them  in  height.  But  even  after  it  becomes  narrower 
the  river  frequently  widens  into  broad,  open,  lake -like  expanses,  which  are 
studded  with  lovely  islands,  and  wherever  the  shore  lowers  you  see,  beyond, 
grand  mountain  ranges  snow-clad  and  amazingly  fine. 

The  banks  are  precipitous  nearly  all  the  way  to  the  junction  of  the  Willa 
mette,  and  there  is  singularly  little  farming  country  on  the  immediate  river. 
Below  Kalama  there  are  few  spots  where  there  is  even  room  for  a  small  farm 
stead.  But  along  this  part  of  the  river  are  the  "  salmon  factories,"  whence 
come  the  Oregon  salmon,  which,  put  up  in  tin  cans,  are  now  to  be  bought  not 
only  in  our  Eastern  States,  but  all  over  the  world.  The  fish  are  caught  in 
weirs,  in  gill  nets,  as  shad  are  caught  on  the  Hudson,  and  this  is  the  only  part 
of  the  labor  performed  by  white  men.  The  fishermen  carry  the  salmon  in 
boats  to  the  factory — usually  a  large  frame  building  erected  on  piles  over  the 
water — and  here  they  fall  into  the  hands  of  Chinese,  who  get  for  their  labor  a 
dollar  a  day  and  their  food. 

The  salmon  are  flung  up  on  a  stage,  where  they  lie  in  heaps  of  a  thousand  at 
a  time,  a  surprising  sight  to  an  Eastern  person,  for  in  such  a  pile  you  may  see 
many  fish  weighing  from  thirty  to  sixty  pounds.  The  work  of  preparing  them 
for  the  cans  is  conducted  with  exact  method  and  great  cleanliness,  water  being 
abundant.  One  Chinaman  seizes  a  fish  and  cuts  off  his  head  ;  the  next  slashes 


SALEM,  CAPITAL  OF  OKEGON. 


THE  COLUMBIA  RIVER  AND  PUGET  SOUND.  213 

off  the  fins  and  disembowels  the  fish ;  it  then  falls  into  a  large  vat,  where  the 
blood  soaks  out — a  salmon  bleeds  like  a  bull — and  after  soaking  and  repeated 
washing  in  different  vats,  it  falls  at  last  into  the  hands  of  one  of  a  gang  of  Chi 
nese  whose  business  it  is,  with  heavy  knives,  to  chop  the  fish  into  chunks  of 
suitable  size  for  the  tins.  These  pieces  are  plunged  into  brine,  and  presently 
stuffed  into  the  cans,  it  being  the  object  to  fill  each  can  as  full  as  possible  with 
fish,  the  bone  being  excluded. 

The  top  of  the  can,  which  has  a  small  hole  pierced  in  it,  is  then  soldered  on, 
and  five  hundred  tins  set  on  a  form  are  lowered  into  a  huge  kettle  of  boiling 
water,  where  they  remain  until  the  heat  has  expelled  all  the  air.  Then  a  Chi 
naman  neatly  drops  a  little  solder  over  each  pin-hole,  and  after  another  boiling, 
the  object  of  which  is,  I  believe,  to  make  sure  that  the  cans  are  hermetically 
sealed,  the  process  is  complete,  and  the  salmon  are  ready  to  take  a  journey 
longer  and  more  remarkable  even  than  that  which  their  progenitors  took  when, 
seized  with  the  curious  rage  of  spawning,  they  ascended  the  Columbia,  to  de 
posit  their  eggs  in  its  head  waters,  near  the  centre  of  the  continent. 

I  was  assured  by  the  fishermen  that  the  salmon  do  not  decrease  in  numbers 
or  in  size,  yet  in  this  year,  1873,  more  than  two  millions  of  pounds  were  put 
up  in  tin  cans  on  the  Lower  Columbia  alone,  besides  fifteen  or  twenty  thou 
sand  barrels  of  salted  salmon. 

From  Astoria  to  Portland  is  a  distance  of  one  hundred  and  ten  miles,  and 
as  the  current  is  strong,  the  steamer  requires  ten  or  twelve  hours  to  make  the 
trip.  As  you  approach  the  mouth  of  the  Willamette  you  meet  more  arable 
land,  and  the  shores  of  this  river  are  generally  lower,  and  often  alluvial,  like 
the  Missouri  and  Mississippi  bottoms ;  and  here  you  find  cattle,  sheep,  orchards, 
and  fields ;  and  one  who  is  familiar  with  the  agricultural  parts  of  California 
notices  here  signs  of  a  somewhat  severer  climate,  in  more  substantial  houses ; 
and  the  evidence  of  more  protracted  rains,  in  green  and  luxuriant  grasses  at  a 
season  when  the  pastures  of  California  have  already  begun  to  turn  brown. 

Portland  is  a  surprisingly  well-built  city,  with  so  many  large  shops,  so  many 
elegant  dwellings,  and  other  signs  of  prosperity,  as  will  make  you  credit  the 
assertion  of  its  inhabitants,  that  it  contains  more  wealth  in  proportion  to  its 
population  than  any  other  town  in  the  Unit'ed  States.  It  lies  on  the  right  bank 
of  the  Willamette,  and  is  the  centre  of  a  large  commerce.  Its  inhabitants 
seemed  to  me  to  have  a  singular  fancy  for  plate-glass  fronts  in  their  shops  and 
hotels,  and  even  in  the  private  houses,  which  led  me  at  first  to  suppose  that 
there  must  be  a  glass  factory  near  at  hand.  It  is  all,  I  believe,  imported. 

From  Portland,  which  you  can  see  in  a  day,  and  whose  most  notable  sight 
is  a  fine  view  of  Mount  Hood,  obtainable  from  the  hills  back  of  the  city,  the 
sight-seer  makes  his  excursions  conveniently  in  various  directions ;  and  as  the 
American  traveler  is  always  in  a  hurry,  it  is  perhaps  well  to  show  what  time 
is  needed : 


214    NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

To  the  Dalles  and  Celi- 
lo,  and  return  to  Portland, 
three  days. 

To  Victoria,Vancouver's 
Island,  and  return  to  Port 
land,  including  the  tour  of 
Puget  Sound,  seven  days. 

To  San  Francisco,  over 
land,  by  railroad  to  Rose- 
burg,  thence  by  stage  to 
Redding,  and  rail  to  San 
Francisco,  seventy  -  nine 
hours. 

Thus  you  may  leave  San 
Francisco  by  steamer  for 
Portland,  see  the  Dalles, 
the  Cascades,Puget  Sound, 
Victoria,  the  Willamette 
Valley,  and  the  magnificent 
mountain  scenery  of  South 
ern  Oregon  and  Northern 
California,  and  be  back  in 
San  Francisco  in  less  than 
three  weeks,  making  abun 
dant  allowance  for  possi 
ble  though  not  probable 
detentions  on  the  road. 
The  time  absolutely  need 
ed  for  the  tour  is  but  sev 
enteen  days. 

Of  course  he  who  "  takes 
a  run  over  to  California" 
from  the  East,  predeter 
mined  to  be  back  in  his 
office  or  shop  within  five 
or  six  wreeks  from  the  day 
he  left  home,  can  not  see 
the  Columbia  River  and 
Puget  Sound.  But  trav 
elers  are  beginning  to  dis 
cover  that  it  is  worth  while 
to  spend  some  months  on 


THE  COLUMBIA  RIVER  AND  PUGET  SOUND. 


215 


the  Pacific  coast ;  some 
day,  I  do  not  doubt,  it 
will  be  fashionable  to  go 
across  the  continent;  and 
those  whose  circumstances 
give  them  leisure  should 
not  leave  the  Pacific  with 
out  seeing  Oregon  and 
Washington  Territory.  In 
the  few  pages  which  fol 
low,  my  aim  is  to  smooth 
the  way  for  others  by  a 
very  simple  account  of 
what  I  myself  saw  and  en 
joyed. 

And  first  as  to  the  Cas 
cades  and  the  Dalles  of 
the  Columbia.  You  leave 
Portland  for  Dalles  City 
in  a  steamboat  at  five 
o'clock  in  the  morning. 
The  better  way  is  to  sleep 
on  board  this  steamer, 
and  thus  avoid  an  uncom 
fortably  early  awakening. 
Then  when  you  do  rise, 
at  six  or  half  past,  you 
will  find  yourself  on  the 
Columbia,  and  steaming 
directly  at  Mount  Hood, 
whose  splendid  snow-cov 
ered  peak  seems  to  bar 
your  way  but  a  short  dis 
tance  ahead.  It  lies,  in 
fact,  a  hundred  miles  off; 
and  when  you  have  sailed 
some  hours  toward  it  the 
river  makes  a  turn,  which 
leaves  the  snowy  peak  at 
one  side,  and  presently 
hides  it  behind  the  steep 
bank. 


216    NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

The  little  steamer,  very  clean  and  comfortable,  affords  you  an  excellent 
breakfast,  and  some  amusement  in  the  odd  way  in  which  she  is  managed. 
Most  of  the  river  steamers  here  have  their  propelling  wheel  at  the  stern ;  they 
have  very  powerful  engines,  which  drive  them  ahead  with  surprising  speed. 
I  have  gone  sixteen  miles  an  hour  in  one,  with  the  current ;  and  when  they 
make  a  landing  the  pilot  usually  runs  the  boat's  head  slantingly  against  the 
shore,  and  passengers  and  freight  are  taken  in  or  landed  over  the  bow.  At  the 
wood-pile  on  the  shore  you  may  generally  see  one  of  the  people  called  "  Pikes," 
whom  you  will  recognize  by  a  very  broad-brimmed  hat,  a  frequent  squirting  of 
tobacco-juice,  and  the  possession  of  two  or  three  hounds,  whom  they  call  here 
abouts  "hound-dogs,"  as  we  say  "bull-dog."  And  this  reminds  me  that  in 
Oregon  the  country  people  usually  ask  you  if  you  will  eat  an  "  egg-omelet ;" 
and  they  speak  of  pork — a  favorite  food  of  the  Pike — as  "  hog-meat." 

The  voyage  up  the  river  presents  a  constant  succession  of  wild  and  pictur 
esque  scenery ;  immense  rocky  capes  jut  out  into  the  broad  stream ;  for  miles 
the  banks  are  precipitous,  like  the  Hudson  River  Palisades,  only  often  much 
higher,  and  for  other  miles  the  river  has  worn  its  channel  out  of  the  rock, 
whose  face  looks  bare  and  clean  cut,  as  though  it  had  been  of  human  work 
manship.  The  first  explorer  of  the  Columbia,  even  if  he  was  a  very  common 
place  mortal,  must  have  passed  days  of  the  most  singular  exhilaration,  espe 
cially  if  he  ascended  the  stream  in  that  season  when  the  skies  are  bright  and 
blue,  for  it  seems  to  me  one  of  the  most  magnificent  sights  in  the  world.  I 
am  not  certain  that  the  wildness  does  not  oppress  one  a  little  after  a  while,  and 
there  are  parts  of  the  river  where  the  smoothly  cut  cliffs,  coming  precipitous 
ly  down  to  the  water's  edge,  and  following  down,  sheer  down,  to  the  river's 
bottom,  make  you  think  with  terror  of  the  unhappy  people  who  might  here 
be  drowned,  with  this  cold  rock  within  their  reach,  yet  not  affording  them 
even  a  momentary  support.  I  should  like  to  have  seen  the  rugged  cliffs  re 
lieved  here  and  there  by  the  softness  of  smooth  lawns,  and  some  evidences  that 
irfan  had  conquered  even  this  rude  and  resisting  nature. 

But  for  a  century  or  two  to  come  the  traveler  will  have  to  do  without  this 
relief;  nor  need  he  grumble,  for,  with  all  its  rugged  grandeur,  the  scenery  has 
many  exquisite  bits  where  nature  has  a  little  softened  its  aspect.  Nor  is  it 
amiss  to  remember  that  but  a  little  way  back  from  the  river  there  are  farms, 
orchards,  cattle,  and  sheep.  At  one  point  the  boat  for  a  moment  turned  her 
bow  to  the  shore  to  admit  a  young  man,  who  brought  with  him  a  wonderful 
bouquet  of  wild  flowers,  which  he  had  gathered  at  his  home  a  few  miles  back; 
and  here  and  there,  where  the  hill-sides  have  a  more  moderate  incline,  you  will 
see  that  some  energetic  pioneer  has  carved  himself  out  a  farm. 

Nevertheless  it  is  with  a  sense  of  relief  at  the  change  that  you  at  last  ap 
proach  a  large  island,  a  flat  space  of  ten  or  twelve  hundred  acres,  with  fences 
and  trees  and  grain  fields  and  houses,  and  with  a  gentle  and  peaceful  aspect, 


THE  COLUMBIA  RIVER  AND  PUGET  SOUND. 


217 


doubly  charming  to  you  when  you  come  upon  it  suddenly,  and  fresh  from  the 
preceding  and  somewhat  appalling  grandeur.  Here  the  boat  stops ;  for  you 
are  here  at  the  lower  end  of  the  famous  Cascades,  and  you  tranship  yourself 
into  cars  which  carry  you  to  the  upper  end,  a  distance  of  about  six  miles, 
where  again  you  take  boat  for  Dalles  City. 


MAP   OF   PUGET    SOU.ND    AND    VICINITY. 


The  Cascades  are  rapids.  The  river,  which  has  ever  a  swift  and  impetuous 
current,  is  nearly  two  miles  wide  just  above  these  rapids.  Where  the  bed 
shoals  it  also  narrows,  and  the  great  body  of  water  rushes  over  the  rocks, 
roaring,  tumbling,  foaming  —  a  tolerably  wild  sight.  There  is  nowhere  any 
sudden  descent  sufficient  to  make  a  water -fall;  but  there  is  a  fall  of  a  good 
many  feet  in  the  six  miles  of  cascades. 

These  rapids  are  considered  impassable,  though  I  believe  the  Indians  used 
sometimes  to  venture  down  them  in  canoes ;  and  it  was  my  good  fortune  to 


218     NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

shoot  down  them  in  a  little  steamer  —  the  Shoshone  —  the  third  only,  I  was 
told,  which  had  ever  ventured  this  passage.  The  singular  history  of  this 
steamboat  shows  the  vast  extent  of  the  inland  navigation  made  possible  by 
the  Columbia  and  its  tributaries.  She  was  built  in  1866  on  the  Snake  River, 
at  a  point  ninety  miles  from  Boise  City,  in  Idaho  Territory,  and  was  employ 
ed  in  the  upper  waters  of  the  Snake,  running  to  near  the  mouth  of  the  Bru- 
neau,  within  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  miles  of  the  head  of  Salt  Lake. 

When  the  mining  excitement  in  that  region  subsided  there  ceased  to  be  bus 
iness  for  her,  and  her  owner  determined  to  bring  her  to  Portland.  She  passed 
several  rapids  on  the  Snake,  and  at  a  low  stage  of  water  was  run  over  the 
Dalles.  Then  she  had  to  wait  nearly  a  year  until  high  water  on  the  Cascades, 
and  finally  passed  those  rapids,  and  carried  her  owner,  Mr.  Ainsworth,  who 
was  also  for  this  passage  of  the  Cascades  her  pilot,  and  myself  safely  into  Port 
land. 

We  steamed  from  Dalles  City  about  three  o'clock  on  an  afternoon  so  windy 
as  to  make  the  Columbia  very  rough.  When  we  arrived  at  the  head  of  the 
Cascades  we  found  the  shore  lined  with  people  to  watch  our  passage  through 
the  rapids.  As  we  swept  into  the  foaming  and  roaring  waters  the  engine  was 
slowed  a  little,  and  for  a  few  minutes  the  pilots  had  their  hands  full ;  for  the 
fierce  currents,  sweeping  her  now  to  one  side  and  then  to  the  other,  made  the 
steering  extraordinarily  difficult.  At  one  point  there  seemed  a  probability  that 
we  should  be  swept  on  to  the  rocks ;  and  it  was  very  curious  to  stand,  as  Gen 
eral  Sprague  and  I,  the  only  passengers,  did,  in  front  of  the  pilot-house,  and 
watch  the  boat's  head  swing  against  the  helm  and  toward  the  rocks,  until  at 
last,  after  half  a  minute  of  suspense,  she  began  slowly  to  swing  back,  obedient 
to  her  pilot's  wish. 

We  made  six  miles  in  eleven  minutes,  which  is  at  the  rate  of  more  than  thir 
ty  miles  per  hour,  a  better  rate  of  speed  than  steamboats  commonly  attain.  Of 
course  it  is  impossible  to  drive  a  vessel  up  the  Cascades,  and  a  steamboat 
which  has  once  passed  these  rapids  remains  forever  below. 

At  the  upper  end  of  the  Cascades  a  boat  awaits  you,  which  carries  you 
through  yet  more  picturesque  scenery  to  Dalles  City,  where  you  spend  the 
night.  This  is  a  small  place,  remarkable  to  the  traveler  chiefly  for  the  geolog 
ical  collection  which  every  traveler  ought  to  see,  belonging  to  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Condon,  a  very  intelligent  and  enthusiastic  geologist,  the  Presbyterian  minis 
ter  of  the  place.  You  have  also  at  Dalles  City  a  magnificent  view  of  Mount 
Hood,  and  Mr.  Condon  will  tell  you  that  he  has  seen  this  old  crater  emit  smoke 
since  he  has  lived  here. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  both  Mount  Hood  and  Mount  St.  Helens  have  still 
internal  fires,  though  both  their  craters  are  now  filled  up  with  ashes.  There  is 
reason  to  believe  that  at  its  last  period  of  activity  Mount  Hood  emitted  only 
ashes ;  for  there  are  still  found  traces  of  volcanic  ashes,  attributable,  I  am  told, 


THE  COLUMBIA  RIVER  AND  PUGET  SOUND. 


219 


to  this  mountain,  as  far  as  one  hundred  miles  from  its  summit.  Of  Mount 
St.  Helens  it  is  probable  that  its  slumbering  fires  are  not  very  deeply  buried. 
A  few  years  ago  two  adventurous  citizens  of  Washington  Territory  were 
obliged,  by  a  sudden  fog  and  cold  storm,  to  spend  a  night  near  its  summit, 
and  seeking  for  some  cave  among  the  lava  where  to  shelter  themselves  from 
the  storm,  found  a  fissure  from  which  came  so  glowing  and  immoderate  a 
heat  that  they  could  not  bear  its  vicinity,  and,  as  they  related,  were  alternately 
frozen  and  scorched  all  night — now  roasting  at  the  volcanic  fire,  and  again 
rushing  out  to  cool  themselves  in  the  sleet  and  snow. 


TI1E   DUKE   OF   YORK. 


Puget  Sound  Chiefs. 


The  rocks  are  volcanic  from  near  the  mouth  of  the  Willamette  to  and  above 
the  Dalles,  and  geologists  suppose  that  there  have  been  great  convulsions  of 
nature  hereabouts  in  recent  geological  times.  The  Indians  have  a  tradition, 
indeed,  that  the  river  was  originally  navigable  and  unobstructed  where  now 
are  the  Cascades,  and  that  formerly  there  was  a  long,  natural  tunnel,  through 
which  the  Columbia  passed  under  a  mountain.  They  assert  that  a  great  earth 
quake  broke  down  this  tunnel,  the  site  of  which  they  still  point  out,  and  that 
the  debris  formed  the  present  obstructions  at  the  Cascades. 

Oregon,  if  one  may  judge  by  the  fossil  remains  in  Mr.  Condon's  collection, 
seems  once  to  have  been  inhabited  by  a  great  number  and  variety  of  pre-adam- 
ite  beasts;  but  the  most  singular  object  he  has  to  show  is  a  very  striking  ape's 
head,  carved  with  great  spirit  and  vigor  out  of  hard  lava.  This  object  was 


220    NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

found  upon  the  shore  of  the  Columbia  by  Indians,  after  a  flood  which  had 
washed  away  a  piece  of  old  alluvial  bank.  The  rock  of  which  it  is  composed 
is  quite  hard ;  the  carving  is,  as  I  said,  done  with  remarkable  vigor ;  and  the 
top  of  the  head  is  hollowed  out,  precisely  as  the  Indians  still  make  shallow  de 
pressions  in  figures  and  heads  which  they  carve  out  of  slate,  in  which  to  burn 
what  answers  in  their  religious  ceremonies  for  incense. 

But  supposing  this  relic  to  belong  to  Oregon — and  there  is,  I  was  told,  no 
reason  to  believe  otherwise — where  did  the  Indian  who  carved  it  get  his  idea 
of  an  ape?  The  Indians  of  this  region,  poor  creatures  that  they  are,  have  still 
the  habit  of  carving  rude  figures  out  of  slate  and  other  soft  rocks.  They  have 
also  the  habit  of  cutting  out  shallow,  dish-like  depressions  in  the  heads  of  such 
figures,  wherein  to  burn  incense.  But  they  could  not  give  Mr.  Condon  any 
account  of  the  ape's  head  they  brought  him,  nor  did  they  recognize  its  features 
as  resembling  any  object  or  creature  familiar  to  them  even  by  tradition. 

The  Dalles  of  the  Columbia  are  simply  a  succession  of  falls  and  rapids,  not 
reaching  over  as  great  a  distance  as  the  Cascades,  but  containing  one  feature 
much  more  remarkable  than  any  thing  which  the  Cascades  afford,  and  indeed, 
so  far  as  I  know,  found  nowhere  else. 

The  Columbia  above  the  Dalles  is  still  a  first-class  river,  comparable  in  depth 
and  width,  and  in  the  volume  of  its  water,  only  with  the  Lower  Mississippi  or 
the  Amazon.  It  is  a  deep,  rapidly-flowing  stream,  nearly  a  mile  wide.  But  at 
one  point  in  the  Dalles  the  channel  narrows  until  it  is,  at  the  ordinary  height  of 
the  river,  not  over  a  hundred  yards  wide ;  and  through  this  narrow  gorge  the 
whole  volume  of  the  river  rushes  for  some  distance.  Of  course  water  is  not 
subject  to  compression  ;  the  volume  of  the  river  is  not  diminished ;  what  hap 
pens,  as  you  perceive  when  you  see  this  singular  freak  of  nature,  is  that  the 
river  is  suddenly  turned  up  on  its  edge.  Suppose  it  is,  above  the  Dalles,  a 
mile  wide  and  fifty  feet  deep ;  at  the  narrow  gorge  it  is  but  a  hundred  yards 
wide —  how  deep  must  it  be?  Certainly  it  can  be  correctly  said  that  the 
stream  is  turned  up  on  its  edge. 

The  Dalles  lie  five  or  six  miles  above  Dalles  City ;  and  you  pass  these  rapids 
in  the  train  which  bears  you  to  Celilo  early  the  next  morning  after  you  arrive 
at  Dalles  City.  Celilo  is  not  a  town ;  it  is  simply  a  geographical  point ;  it  is 
the  spot  where,  if  you  were  bound  to  the  interior  of  the  continent  by  water, 
you  would  take  steamboat.  There  is  here  a  very  long  shed  to  shelter  the 
goods  which  are  sent  up  into  this  far-away  and,  to  us  Eastern  people,  unknown 
interior ;  there  is  a  wharf  where  land  the  boats  when  they  return  from  a  jour 
ney  of  perhaps  a  thousand  miles  on  the  Upper  Columbia  or  the  Snake ;  there 
are  two  or  three  laborers'  shanties  —  and  that  is  all  there  is  of  Celilo;  and 
your  journey  thither  has  been  made  only  that  you  may  see  the  Dalles,  and 
Cape  Horn,  as  a  bold  promontory  on  the  river  is  called. 

What  I  advise  you  to  do  is  to  take  a  hearty  lunch  with  you,  and,  if  you  can 


THE  COLUMBIA  RIVER  AND  PUGET  SOUND.  221 

find  one,  a  guide,  and  get  off  the  early  Celilo  train  at  the  Dalles.  You  will 
have  a  most  delightful  day  among  very  curious  scenery ;  will  see  the  Indians 
spearing  salmon  in  the  pools  over  which  they  build  their  stages;  and  can  ex 
amine  at  leisure  the  curious  rapids  called  the  Dalles.  A  party  of  three  or  four 
persons  could  indeed  spend  several  days  very  pleasantly  picnicking  about  the 
Dalles,  arid  in  the  season  they  would  shoot  hare  and  birds  enough  to  supply 
them  with  meat.  The  weather  in  this  part  of  Oregon,  east  of  the  Cascade 
range,  is  as  settled  as  that  of  California,  so  that  there  is  no  risk  in  sleeping- 
out-of-doors  in  summer. 

There  is  a  singularly  sudden  climatic  change  between  Western  and  Eastern 
Oregon ;  and  if  you  ask  the  captain  or  pilot  on  the  boat  which  plies  between 
the  Cascades  and  Dalles  City,  he  can  show  you  the  mountain  range  on  one  side 
of  which  the  climate  is  wet,  while  on  the  other  side  it  is  dry.  The  Cascade 
range  is  a  continuation  northward  of  the  Sierra  Nevada ;  and  here,  as  farther 
south,  it  stops  the  water  -  laden  winds  which  rush  up  from  the  sea.  Western 
Oregon,  lying  between  the  Cascades  and  the  ocean,  has  so  much  rain  that  its 
people  are  called  "  Web-feet ;"  Eastern  Oregon,  a  vast  grazing  region,  has  com 
paratively  little  rain.  Western  Oregon,  except  in  the  Willamette  and  Rogue 
River  valleys,  is  densely  timbered  ;  Eastern  Oregon  is  a  country  of  boundless 
plains,  where  they  irrigate  their  few  crops,  and  depend  mainly  on  stock-graz 
ing.  This  region  is  as  yet  sparsely  settled;  and  when  we  in  the  East  think  of 
Oregon,  or  read  of  it  even,  it  is  of  that  part  of  the  huge  State  which  lies 
west  of  the  Cascades,  and  where  alone  agriculture  is  carried  on  to  a  considera 
ble  extent. 

You  will  spend  a  day  in  returning  from  the  Dalles  to  Portland,  and  arriving 
there  in  the  evening  can  set  out  the  next  morning  for  Olympia,  on  Puget 
Sound,  by  way  of  Kalama,  which  is*  the  Columbia  River  terminus  for  the  pres 
ent  of  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad.  It  is  possible  to  go  by  steamer  from 
Portland  to  Victoria,  and  then  return  down  Puget  Sound  to  Olympia ;  but  to 
most  people  the  sea-voyage  is  not  enticing,  and  there  are  but  slight  inconven 
iences  in  the  short  land  journey.  The  steamer  leaving  Portland  at  six  A.M. 
lands  you  at  Kalama  about  eleven ;  there  you  get  dinner,  and  proceed  about 
two  by  rail  to  Olympia.  It  is  a  good  plan  to  telegraph  for  accommodations 
on  the  pretty  and  comfortable  steamer  North  Pacific,  and  go  directly  to  her 
on  your  arrival  at  Olympia. 

Puget  Sound  is  one  of  the  most  picturesque  and  remarkable  sheets  of  water 
in  the  world ;  and  the  voyage  from  Olympia  to  Victoria,  which  shows  you  the 
greater  part  of  the  Sound,  is  a  delightful  and  novel  excursion,  specially  to  be 
recommended  to  people  who  like  to  go  to  sea  without  getting  sea  -  sick ;  for 
these  land-encircled  waters  are  almost  always  smooth. 

When,  at  Kalama,  you  enter  Washington  Territory,  your  ears  begin  to  be 
assailed  by  the  most  barbarous  names  imaginable.  On  your  way  to  Olympia 


222    NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


by  rail  you  cross  a  riv 
er  called  the  Skookum- 
Chuck ;  your  train 
stops  at  places  named 

Xewaukum,  Tumwater,  and  Toutle ;  and  if  you  seek  fur 
ther,  you  will  hear  of  whole  counties  labeled  Wahkiakum, 

or  Snohomish,  or  Kitsap,  or  Klikatat;  and  Cowlitz,  Hookium,  and  ISTenolelops 
greet  and  offend  you.  They  complain  in  Olympia  that  Washington  Territory 
gets  but  little  immigration ;  but  what  wonder  ?  What  man,  having  the  whole 
American  continent  to  chose  from,  would  willingly  date  his  letters  from  the 
county  of  Snohomish,  or  bring  up  his  children  in  the  city  of  Nenolelops?  The 
village  of  Tumwater  is,  as  I  am  ready  to  bear  witness,  very  pretty  indeed ;  but 
surely  an  emigrant  would  think  twice  before  he  established  himself  either  there 
or  at  Toutle.  Seattle  is  sufficiently  barbarous;  Steilacoom  is  no  better;  and  I 
suspect  that  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad  terminus  has  been  fixed  at  Tacoma 
— if  it  is  fixed  there — because  that  is  one  of  the  few  places  on  Puget  Sound 
whose  name  does  not  inspire  horror  and  disgust. 

Olympia,  which  lies  on  an  arm  of  Puget  Sound,  and  was  once  a  town  of 
great  expectations,  surprises  the  traveler  by  its  streets,  all  shaded  with  magnif 
icent  maples.  The  founder  of  the  town  was  a  man  of  taste ;  and  he  set  a  fash- 


THE  COLUMBIA  RIVER  AND  PUGET  SOUND.  223 

ion  which,  being  followed  for  a  few  years  in  this  country  of  abundant  rains, 
has  given  Olympia's  streets  shade  trees  by  the  hundred  which  would  make  it 
famous  were  it  an  Eastern  place. 

Unluckily,  it  has  little  else  to  charm  the  traveler,  though  it  is  the  capital  of 
the  Territory ;  and  when  you  have  spent  half  an  hour  walking  through  the 
streets  you  will  be  quite  ready  to  have  the  steamer  set  off  for  Victoria.  The 
voyage  lasts  but  about  thirty-six  hours,  and  would  be  shorter  were  it  not  that 
the  steamer  makes  numerous  landings.  Thus  you  get  glimpses  of  Seattle,  Steil- 
acoom,  Tacoma,  and  of  the  so-called  saw-mill  ports — Port  Madison,  Port  Gam 
ble,  Port  Ludlow,  and  Port  Townsend — the  last  named  being  also  the  bound 
ary  of  our  Uncle  Samuel's  dominions  for  the  present,  and  the  port  of  entry  for 
this  district,  with  a  custom-house  which  looks  like  a  barn,  and  a  collector  and 
inspectors,  the  latter  of  whom  examine  your  trunk  as  you  return  from  Victoria 
to  save  you  from  the  sin  of  smuggling. 

From  Port  Townsend  your  boat  strikes  across  the  straits  of  San  Juan  de 
Fuca  to  Victoria;  and  just  here,  as  you  are  crossing  from  American  to  English 
territory,  you  get  the  most  magnificent  views  of  the  grand  Olympian  range  of 
mountains  and  of  Mount  Regnier.  Also,  the  captain  will  point  out  to  you  in 
the  distance  that  famous  island  of  San  Juan  which  formed  the  subject  or  ob 
ject,  or  both,  of  our  celebrated  boundary  dispute  with  great  Britain,  and  you 
will  wonder  how  small  an  object  can  nearly  make  nations  go  to  war,  and  for 
what  a  petty  thing  we  set  several  kings  and  great  lords  to  studying  geography 
and  treaties  and  international  law,  and  boring  themselves,  and  filling  enterpris 
ing  newspapers  with  dozens  of  columns  of  dull  history ;  and  you  will  wonder 
the  more  at  the  stupid  pertinacity  of  these  English  in  clinging  to  the  little  isl 
and  of  San  Juan  when  you  reach  Victoria,  and  see  that  we  shall  presently  take 
that  dull  little  town  too,  not  because  we  want  it  or  need  it,  but  to  save  it  from 
perishing  of  inanition. 

It  is  something  to  have  taste  and  a  sense  of  the  beautiful.  Certainly  the  En 
glish,  who  discovered  the  little  landlocked  harbor  of  Victoria  and  chose  it  as 
the  site  of  a  town,  displayed  both.  It  is  by  natural  advantages  one  of  the  love 
liest  places  I  ever  saw,  and  I  wonder,  remote  as  it  is,  that  it  is  not  famous. 
The  narrow  harbor,  which  is  not  so  big  as  one  of  the  big  Liverpool  docks,  is 
surrounded  on  both  sides  by  the  prettiest  little  miniature  bays,  rock -bound, 
with  grassy  knolls,  and  here  and  there  shady  clumps  of  evergreens ;  a  river 
opening  out  above  the  town  into  a  kind  of  lake,  and  spanned  by  pretty  bridges, 
invites  you  to  a  boating  excursion;  and  the  fresh  green  of  the  lawn -like  ex 
panses  of  grass  which  reach  into  the  bay  from  different  directions,  the  rocky 
little  promontories  with  boats  moored  near  them,  the  fine  snow -covered 
mountains  in  the  distance,  and  the  pleasantly  winding  roads  leading  in  dif 
ferent  directions  into  the  country,  all  make  up  a  landscape  whose  soft 
and  gay  aspect  I  suppose  is  the  more  delightful  because  one  comes  to  it 


224     NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

from  the  somewhat  oppressive  grandeur  of  the  fir  forests  in  Washington  Ter 
ritory. 

In  the  harbor  of  Victoria  the  most  conspicuous  object  is  the  long  range  of 
warehouses  belonging  to  the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  with  their  little  trading 
steamers  moored  alongside.  These  vessels  bear  the  signs  of  traffic  with  a  sav 
age  people  in  the  high  boarding  nettings  which  guard  them  from  stem  to  stern, 
and  which  are  in  their  more  solid  parts  pierced  for  musketry.  Here,  too,  you 
see  a  queer  little  old  steamboat,  the  first  that  ever  vexed  the  waters  of  the 
Pacific  Ocean  with  its  paddle-wheels.  And  as  your  own  steamer  hauls  up  to 
the  wharf,  you  will  notice,  arrayed  to  receive  you,  what  is  no  doubt  the  most 
shocking  and  complete  collection  of  ugly  women  in  the  world. 

These  are  the  Indians  of  this  region.  They  are  very  light  -  colored ;  their 
complexion  has  an  artificial  look ;  there  is  something  ghastly  and  unnatural  in 
the  yellow  of  the  faces,  penetrated  by  a  rose  or  carmine  color  on  the  cheeks. 
They  are  hideous  in  all  the  possible  aspects  and  varieties  of  hideousness — un 
dersized,  squat,  evil-eyed,  pug-nosed,  tawdry  in  dress,  ungraceful  in  every  mo 
tion  ;  they  really  mar  the  landscape,  so  that  you  are  glad  to  escape  from  them 
to  your  hotel,  which  you  find  a  clean  and  comfortable  building,  where,  if  you 
are  as  fortunate  as  the  traveler  who  relates  this,  you  may  by-and-b^  catch  a 
glimpse  or  two  of  a  fresh,  fair,  girlish  English  face,  which  will  make  up  to 
you  for  the  precedent  ugliness. 

Victoria  hopes  to  have  its  dullness  enlivened  by  a  railroad  from  the  main 
land  one  of  these  days,  which  may  make  it  more  prosperous,  but  will  probably 
destroy  some  of  the  charm  it  now  has  for  a  tourist.  It  can  hardly  destroy  the 
excellent  roads  by  which  you  may  take  several  picturesque  drives  and  walks  in 
the  neighborhood  of  the  town,  nor  the  pretty  views  you  have  from  the  hills 
near  by,  nor  the  excursions  by  boat,  in  which  you  can  best  see  how  much  Na 
ture  has  done  to  beautify  this  place,  and  how  little  man  has  done  so  far  to  mar 
her  work. 

Silks  and  cigars  are  said  to  be  vei;y  cheap  in  Victoria ;  and  those  who  con 
sume  these  articles  will  probably  look  through  the  shops  and  make  a  few  pur 
chases,  not  enough  to  satisfy,  though  sufficient  to  arouse  the  suspicions  of  the 
Collector  of  Customs  at  Port  Townsend.  If  you  use  your  time  well,  the  thir 
ty-six  hours  which  the  steamer  spends  at  Victoria  will  suffice  you  to  see  all 
that  is  of  interest  there  to  a  traveler,  and  you  can  return  in  her  down  the 
Sound,  and  make  more  permanent  your  impressions  of  its  scenery. 

You  will  perhaps  be  startled,  if  you  chance  to  overhear  the  conversation  of 
your  fellow-passengers,  to  gather  that  it  concerns  itself  chiefly  with  millions, 
and  these  millions  run  to  such  extraordinary  figures  that  you  may  hear  one  man 
pitying  another  for  the  confession  that  he  made  no  more  than  a  hundred  mill 
ions  last  year.  It  is  feet  of  lumber  they  are  speaking  of;  and  when  you  see 
the  monstrous  piles  of  sawdust  which  encumber  the  mill  ports,  the  vast  quan- 


THE  COLUMBIA  RIVER  AND  PUGET  SOUND.  225 

titles  of  waste  stuff  they  burn,  and  the  huge  rafts  of  timber  which  are  towed 
down  to  the  mills,  as  well  as  the  ships  which  lie  there  to  load  for  South  Amer 
ica,  Tahiti,  Australia,  and  California,  you  will  not  longer  wonder  that  they 
talk  of  millions. 

Some  of  these  mills  are  owned  by  very  wealthy  companies,  who  have  had 
the  good  fortune  to  buy  at  low  rates  large  tracts  of  the  best  timber  lands  ly 
ing  along  the  rivers  and  bays.  A  saw-mill  is  the  centre  of  quite  a  town — and 
a  very  rough  town  too,  to  judge  from  the  appearance  of  the  men  who  come 
down  to  the  dock  to  look  at  the  steamer,  and  the  repute  of  the  Indian  women 
who  go  from  port  to  port  and  seem  at  home  among  the  mill  men. 

Having  gone  by  sea  to  Oregon,  I  should  advise  you  to  return  to  California 
overland.  The  journey  lies  by  rail  through  the  fertile  Willamette  Valley,  for 
the  present  the  chief  agricultural  country  of  Oregon,  to  Roseburg,  and  thence 
by  stage  over  and  through  some  of  the  most  picturesque  and  grand  scenery  in 
America,  into  California.  If  you  are  curious  in  bizarre  social  experiments,  you 
may  very  well  stop  a  day  at  Aurora,  thirty  miles  below  Portland,  and  look  at 
some  of  the  finest  orchards  in  the  State,  the  property  of  a  strange  German 
community  which  has  lived  in  harmony  and  acquired  wealth  at  this  point. 

Salem,  too,  the  capital  of  Oregon,  lying  on  the  railroad  fifty  miles  below 
Portland,  is  worth  a  visit,  to  show  you  how  rich  a  valley  the  Willamette  is. 
And  as  you  go  down  by  stage  toward  California  you  will  enjoy  a  long  day's 
drive  through  the  Rogue  River  Valley,  a  long,  narrow,  winding  series  of  nooks, 
remote,  among  high  mountains,  looking  for  all  the  world  as  though  in  past 
ages  a  great  river  had  swept  through  here,  and  left  in  its  dry  bed  a  fertile  soil, 
and  space  enough  for  a  great  number  of  happy  and  comfortable  homes. 

May  and  June  are  the  best  months  in  which  to  see  Oregon  and  Puget  Sound. 
With  San  Francisco  as  a  starting-point,  one  may  go  either  to  Portland  or  to 
Victoria  direct.  If  you  go  first  to  Victoria,  you  save  a  return  journey  across 
Puget  Sound,  and  from  Olympia  to  Kalama,  but  you  miss  the  sail  up  the  Co 
lumbia  from  Astoria  to  Portland.  The  following  table  of  fares  will  show  you 
the  cost  of  traveling  in  the  region  I  have  described : 

Time.  Fare. 

From  San  Francisco  to  Portland 3  days  $30  00 

From  San  Francisco  to  Victoria 3    "  3000 

From  Portland  to  Celilo 1  day  7  00 

Excursion  tickets,  good  from  Portland  to  Celilo  and  back 3  days  10  00 

From  Portland  by  Olympia  to  Victoria 3    "  1225 

From  Portland  to  San  Francisco  by  railroad  and  stage 79  hours  42  00 

Meals  on  these  journeys  are  extra,  and  cost  from  half  a  dollar  to  seventy-five 
cents.     They  are  generally  good.     All  these  rates  are  in  coin.     On  the  steamer 
from  San  Francisco  to  Portland  or  Victoria  meals  are  included  in  the  fare. 
When  you  are  once  in  Portland,  a  vast  region  opens  itself  to  you,  if  you  are 

15 


226     NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

an  adventurous  tourist.  You  may  take  boat  at  Celilo,  above  the  Dalles,  and 
steam  up  to  Wallula,  where  you  take  stage  for  Elkton,  a  station  on  the  Pacific 
Railroad,  in  Utah ;  this  journey  shows  you  the  heart  of  the  continent,  and  is 
said  to  abound  in  magnificent  scenery.  I  have  not  made  it,  but  it  is  frequent 
ly  done.  If  you  have  not  courage  for  so  long  an  overland  trip,  a  journey  up 
to  the  mouth  of  Snake  River  and  back  to  Portland,  which  consumes  but  a 
week,  will  give  you  an  intelligent  idea  of  the  vastness  of  the  country  drained 
by  the  main  body  of  the  great  Columbia  River. 

The  great  plains  and  table -lands  which  lie  east  of  the  Cascades,  and  are 
drained  by  the  Columbia,  the  Snake,  and  their  affluents,  will  some  day  contain 
a  vast  population.  Already  enterprising  pioneers  are  pushing  into  the  re 
motest  valleys  of  this  region.  As  you  sail  up  the  Columbia,  you  will  hear  of 
wheat,  barley,  sheep,  stock,  wool,  orchards,  and  rapidly  growing  settlements, 
where,  to  our  Eastern  belief,  the  beaver  still  builds  his  dams,  unvexed  even  by 
the  traps  and  rifle  of  the  hunter. 


ANCIENT   HAWAIIAN   IDOL. 


APPENDIX. 


CONTRIBUTIONS  OF  A  VENERABLE  SAVAGE  TO  THE  ANCIENT 
HISTORY  OF  THE  HAWAIIAN  ISLANDS.* 

TBANSLATED  FBOM  TIIK  FBENOII  OF  M.  JULES  EEMY,  BY  WILLIAM  T.  BBIGIIAM. 

[I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  William  T.  Brigham,  of  Boston,  the  translator  of  the  following  "  Contri 
butions  of  a  venerable  Savage,"  and  the  author  of  a  valuable  treatise  on  the  volcanoes  of  the  Sand 
wich  Islands,  as  well  as  of  several  memoirs  on  the  natural  history  of  the  Islands,  for  his  kind  per 
mission  to  use  this  very  curious  fragment,  with  his  additions,  in  my  volume.  The  original  I  have 
not  been  able  to  lay  my  hands  on.  It  gives  a  picturesque  account  of  the  Hawaiian  people  before 
they  came  into  relations  with  foreigners.  It  should  be  remembered  by  the  reader  that  Mr.  Reiny 
is  a  Frenchman,  and  that  his  relations  with  the  Roman  Catholic  missionaries  somewhat  colored 
his  views  of  the  labors  of  the  American  missionaries  on  the  Islands. 

The  "contributions"  in  this  translation  of  Mr.  Brigham  were  privately  printed  by  him  some 
years  ago,  and  the  following  note  by  him  explains  their  origin.  It  will  be  seen  that  Mr.  Brigham 
translated  the  Mele,  or  chant  of  Kawelo,  from  the  original.] 

ONE  evening,  in  the  month  of  March,  1853, 1  landed  at  Hoopuloa,  on  the  western  shore 
of  Hawaii.  Among  the  many  natives  collected  on  the  beach  to  bid  me  welcome  and 
draw  my  canoe  up  over  the  sand,  I  noticed  an  old  man  of  average  size,  remarkably  de 
veloped  chest,  and  whose  hairs,  apparently  once  flaxen,  were  hoary  with  age.  The  coun 
tenance  of  this  old  man,  at  once  savage  and  attractive,  was  furrowed  across  the  forehead 
with  deep  and  regular  wrinkles.  His  only  garment  was  a  shirt  of  striped  calico. 

A  sort  of  veneration  with  which  his  countrymen  seemed  to  me  to  regard  him  only  in 
creased  the  desire  I  at  first  felt  to  become  acquainted  with  the  old  islander.  I  was  soon 

*  The  original  Recits  cCun  Vieux  Sauvage  pour  servir  a  rjiistoire  ancienne  de  Hawaii  was  read  on 
the  15th  of  December,  1857,  to  the  Society  of  Agriculture,  Commerce,  Science,  and  Arts  of  the  De 
partment  of  the  Marne,  of  which  M.  Remy  was  a  corresponding  member,  and  published  at  Chalons- 
sur-Marne  in  1859.  The  translation  is  perfectly  literal,  and  the  Mele  of  Kawelo  has  been  trans 
lated  directly  from  the  Hawaiian,  M.  Remy's  translation  being  often  too  free.  A  portion  of  this 
work  was  translated  several  years  since  by  President  W.  D.  Alexander,  of  Oahu  College,  and  pub 
lished  in  The  Friend,  at  Honolulu,  by  William  T.  Brigham. 


228  APPENDIX. 

told  that  his  name  was  Kanuha,  that  he  was  already  a  lad  when  Alapai1  died  (about 
1752),  that  he  had  known  Kalaniopuu,  Cook,  and  Kamehameha  the  Qreat.  When  I 
learned  his  name  and  extraordinary  age,  I  turned  toward  Kanuha,  extending  my  hand. 
This  attention  flattered  him,  and  disposed  him  favorably  toward  me.  So  I  resolved  to 
take  advantage  of  this  lucky  encounter  to  obtain  from  an  eye-witness  an  infeight  into 
Hawaiian  customs  before  the  arrival  of  Europeans. 

A  hut  of  pandanus  had  been  prepared  for  me  upon  the  lava  by  the  care  of  a  mission 
ary.  I  made  the  old  man  enter,  and  invited  him  to  partake  of  my  repast  of  poi,2  cocoa- 
nut,  raw  fish,  and  roast  dog.  While  eating  the  poi  with  full  fingers,  Kanuha  assured  me 
that  he  had  lived  under  King  Alapai,  and  had  been  his  runner,  as  well  as  the  courier 
of  Kalaniopuu,  his  successor.  So  great  had  been  Kanuha's  strength  in  his  youth  that, 
at  the  command  of  his  chiefs,  he  had  in  a  single  day  accomplished  the  distance  from 
Hoopuloa  to  Hilo,  more  than  forty  French  leagues.  When  Cook  died,  in  1779,  the  little 
children  of  Kanuha's  children  had  been  born.  When  I  spoke  of  Alapai  to  my  old  sav 
age,  he  told  me  that  it  seemed  to  him  a  matter  of  .yesterday  ;  of  Cook,  it  was  a  thing  of 
to-day. 

From  these  facts  it  may  be  believed  that  Kanuha  was  not  less  than  one  hundred  and 
sixteen  years  old  when  I  met  him  on  this  occasion.  This  remarkable  example  of  lon 
gevity  was  by  no  means  unique  at  the  Hawaiian  Islands  a  few  years  since.  Father 
Mare"chal  knew  at  Ka'u,  in  1844,  an  aged  woman  who  remembered  perfectly  having  seen 
Alapai.  I  had  occasion  to  converse  at  Kauai  with  an  islander  who  was  already  a  grand 
father  when  he  saw  Captain  Cook  die.  I  sketched,  at  this  very  Hoopuloa,  the  portrait 
of  an  old  woman,  still  vigorous,  Meawahine,  who  told  any  who  would  hear  her  that  her 
breasts  were  completely  developed  when  her  chief  gave  her  as  wife  to  the  celebrated 
English  navigator. 

Old  Kanuha  was  the  senior  of  all  these  centenaries.  I  took  advantage  of  his  willing 
disposition  to  draw  from  him  the  historical  treasures  with  which  his  memory  was  stored. 
Here,  in  my  own  order,  is  what  he  told  me  during  a  night  of  conversation,  interrupted 
only  by  the  Hawaiian  dances  (hulahuld),  and  by  some  pipes  of  tobacco  smoked  in  turn, 
in  the  custom  of  the  country. 

OF  GOVERNMENT   AND   SOCIETY  WITH   THE   ANCIENT  HAWAIIANS. 

The  soil  was  the  property  of  the  king,  who  reserved  one  part  of  it  for  himself,  assign 
ing  another  to  the  nobles,  and  left  the  rest  to  the  first  occupant.  Property,  based  on  a 
possession  more  or  less  ancient,  was  transmitted  by  heritage ;  but  the  king  could  always 
dispose,  according  to  his  whims,  of  property  of  chiefs  and  subjects,  and  the  chiefs  had 
the  same  privilege  over  the  people. 

Taxes  were  not  assessed  on  any  basis.  The  king  levied  them  whenever  it  seemed 
good  to  him,  and  almost  always  in  an  arbitrary  way.  The  chiefs  also,  and  the  priests, 
received  a  tribute  from  the  people.  The  tax  was  always  in  kind,  and  consisted  of: 

Kalo,  raw  and  made  into  poi ; 

Potatoes  (Convolvulus  batatas,  L.)  many  varieties; 

Bananas  (maid)  of  different  kinds ; 

Cocoa-nuts  (called  niu  by  the  natives)  ; 

Dogs  (destined  for  food)  ;3 

Hogs  ; 

Fowls ; 


APPENDIX.  229 

Fish,  crabs,  cuttle-fish,  shell-fish  ; 

Kukui  nuts  (Aleurites  moluccand)  for  making  relishes,  and  for  illumination  ; 

Edible  sea-weed  (limu)  ; 

Edible  ferns  (several  species,  among  others  the  hapmi)  ; 

Awa  (Piper  methysticum,  Forst.)  ; 

Ki  roots  (Cordyline  ti,  Schott.),  a  very  saccharine  vegetable; 

Feathers  of  the  'Oo  (Drepanis  pacifica),  and  of  the  liwi  (Drepanis  coccined)  :  these 
birds  were  taken  with  the  glue  of  the  ulu  or  bread-fruit  (Artocarpus  incisa)  ; 

Fabrics  of  beaten  bark  (Jcapa)  and  fibre  of  the  olona  (Bcehmeria),  ofwauke  (Broussone- 
tia  papyri/era),  of  hau  (Hibiscus  tiliaceus),  etc.  ; 

Mats  of  Pandanus  and  of  Scirpus  ; 

Pili  (grass  to  thatch  houses  with)  ; 

Canoes  (wad)  ; 

Wood  for  building  ; 

Calabashes  (serving  for  food  vessels,  and  to  hold  water)  ; 

Wooden  dishes  ; 

Arms  and  instruments  of  war,  etc.,  etc. 

A  labor  tax  was  also  enforced,  and  it  was  perhaps  the  most  onerous,  because  it  return 
ed  almost  regularly  every  moon  for  a  certain  number  of  days.  The  work  was  principal 
ly  cultivating  the  loi,  or  fields  of  kalo,  which  belonged  to  the  king  or  chiefs. 

The  Hawaiian  people  were  divided  into  three  very  distinct  classes  ;  these  were  : 

1.  The  nobility  (Alii),  comprising  the  king  and  the  chiefs  of  whatever  degree  ; 

2.  The  clergy  (Kahuna),  comprising  the  priests,  doctors,  prophets,  and  sorcerers; 

3.  Citizens  (MaTcaainand),  comprising  laborers,  farmers,  proletaries,  and  slaves. 


THE  NOBILITY. 

The  chiefs  or  npbles  were  of  several  orders.  The  highest  chief  bore  the  title  of  Moi, 
which  may  best  be  rendered  by  the  word  majesty.  In  a  remote  period  of  Hawaiian  his 
tory,  this  title  was  synonymous  with  Ka  lani,  heaven.  This  expression  occurs  frequently 
in  ancient  poems  :  Auhea  oe,  e  lea  lani  ?  Eia  ae.  This  mode  of  address  is  very  poetic, 
and  quite  pleasing  to  the  chiefs. 

The  Moi  was  still  called  Icapu  and  aliinui.    To  tread  on  his  shadow  was  a  crime  pun 

ished  with  death  :  He  make  ~ke  ee  malu.    The  chief  next  the  throne  took  the  title  of  Wohi. 

*  He  who  ranked  next,  that  of  Mahana.    These  titles  could  belong  at  the  same  time  to 

several  chiefs  of  the  blood-royal,  who  were  called  Alii  Icapu,  Alii  wohi.    The  ordinary 

nobility  furnished  the  king's  aids-de-camp,  called  Hulumanu  (plumed  officers). 

By  the  side  of  the  nobility  were  the  Kahu  alii,  literally  guardians  of  the  chiefs,  of  no 
ble  origin  by  the  younger  branch,  but  who  dared  not  claim  the  title  of  chief  in  the  pres 
ence  of  their  elders.  The  Kahu  alii  of  the  male  sex  might  be  considered  bora  chamber 
lains  ;  of  the  female,  ladies  of  the  bed-chamber. 

There  were  five  kinds  of  Kahu  alii,  which  are  :  Iwikuamoo,  Ipukuha,  Paakahili,  Kiai- 
poo,  Aipuupuu. 

These  titles  constituted  as  many  hereditary  charges  reserved  for  the  lesser  nobility. 
The  functions  of  the  Iwikuamoo  (backbone  of  the  chief)  were  to  rub  his  lord  on  the 
back,  when  stretched  on  his  mat.  The  Ipukuha  had  charge  of  the  royal  spittoons.  The 
Paakahili  carried  a  very  long  plume  (kahili),  which  he  waved  around  the  royal  person 
to  drive  away  the  flics  and  gnats.  The  duties  of  this  officer  were  continual  and  most  fa- 


230  APPENDIX. 

% 

tiguing,  for  he  must  constantly  remain  near  the  person  of  his  master,  armed  with  his  ka 
hili,  whether  the  king  was  seated  or  reclining,  eating  or  sleeping.  The  Kiaipoo's  special 
charge  was  to  watch  at  the  side  of  his  august  chief  during  sleep.  The  Aipuupuu  was 
the  chief  cook,  and,  besides,  performed  functions  similar  to  those  of  steward  or  pur 
veyor. 

There  were,  besides,  other  inferior  chiefs,  as  the  Puuku,  attendants  of  the  house  or 
palace  ;  Malama  ukana,  charged  with  the  care  of  provisions  in  traveling ;  Aialo,  who  had 
the  privilege  of  eating  in  the  presence  of  the  chief;  and,  at  the  present  day,  the  Muki 
~baka,  who  had  the  honor  of  lighting  the  king's  pipe  and  carrying  his  tobacco-pouch. 

Although  the  people  considered  these  last  four  orders  as  belonging  to  the  nobility,  it 
seems  that  they  were  of  lower  rank  than  the  citizens  favored  by  the  chiefs. 

Finally,  the  king  had  always  in  his  service  the  Hula,  who,  like  the  buffoon  or  jester 
of  the  French  kings,  must  amuse  his  majesty  by  mimicry  or  dancing.  The  Kahu  alii, 
or  KauJcaualii,  as  they  are  now  styled,  are  attendants  or  followers  of  the  high  chiefs  by 
right  of  birth.  They  accompany  their  masters  everywhere,  almost  in  the  same  manner 
that  a  governess  follows  her  pupil.4  From  the  throne  down  nobility  was  heredita 
ry.  The  right  of  primogeniture  was  recognized  as  natural,  law.  Nobility  transmitted 
through  the  mother  was  considered  far  superior  to  that  on  the  father's  side  only,  even 
if  he  were  the  highest  of  chiefs.  This  usage  was  founded  on  the  following  proverb : 
Maopopo  lea  makuahine,  aole  maopopo  lea  makuakane  (It  is  always  evident  who  the  mother 
is,  but  one  is  never  sure  about  the  father).  Agreeably  to  this  principle,  the  high  chiefs, 
when  they  could  not  find  wives  of  a  sufficiently  illustrious  origin,  might  espouse  their 
sisters  and  their  nieces,  or,  in  default  of  either  of  these,  their  own  mother.  Nevertheless, 
history  furnishes  us  several  examples  of  kings  who  were  not  noble  on  the  maternal 
side.5 

THE   CLERGY.      NA  KAHUNA. 

The  priests  formed  three  orders: 

1.  The  Kahuna  proper. 

2.  The  Kaula,  or  prophets. 

3.  The  Kilo,  diviners  or  magicians. 

The  priesthood,  properly  so  called  (Kahuna  maoli,  Kahuna  pule),  was  hereditary.  The 
priests  received  their  titles  from  their  fathers,  and  transmitted  them  to  their  offspring, 
male  and  female,  for  the  Hawaiians  had  priestesses  as  well.  The  priest  was  the  peer  of 
the  nobility;  he  had  a  portion  of  land  in  all  the  estates  of  the  chiefs,  and  sometimes  ac 
quired  such  power  as  to  be  formidable  to  the  alii.  In  religious  ceremonies,  the  priests 
were  clothed  with  absolute  power,  and  selected  the  victims  for  the  sacrifices.  This 
privilege  gave  them  an  immense  and  dangerous  influence  in  private  life,  whence  the 
Hawaiian  proverb :  The  priest's  man  is  inviolable,  the  chief's  man  is  the  prey  of  death, 
Aole  e  make  ko  ke  kahuna  kanaka,  oko  ke  ''Hi  kanaka  ke  make. 

The  kahuna,  being  clothed  with  supreme  power  in  the  exercise  of  his  functions,  alone 
could  designate  the  victim  suitable  to  appease  the  anger  of  the  gods.  The  people  feared 
him  much  for  this  prerogative,  which  gave  the  power  of  life  and  death  over  all,  and  the 
result  was  that  the  priest  had  constantly  at  his  service  an  innumerable  crowd  of  men 
and  women  wholly  devoted  to  him.  It  was  not  proper  for  him  to  choose  victims  from 
a  people  who  paid  him  every  imaginable  attention.  But  among  the  servants  of  the  alii, 
if  there  were  any  who  had  offended  the  priest  or  his  partisans,  nothing  more  was  neces 
sary  to  condemn  to  death  such  or  such  an  attendant  of  even  the  highest  chief.  From 


APPENDIX.  231 

this  it  may  be  seen  how  dangerous  it  was  not  to  enjoy  the  good  graces  of  the  kahuna, 
who,  by  his  numerous  clan,  might  revolutionize  the  whole  country.  History  affords  us 
an  example  in  the  Kahuna  Kaleihokuu  of  Laupahoehoe,  who  had  in  his  service  so  con 
siderable  a  body  of  retainers  that  he  was  able  in  a  day,  by  a  single  act  of  his  will,  to  put 
to  death  the  great  chief  Hakau,  of  Waipio,  and  substitute  in  his  place  Umi,  the  bastard 
son  (poolud)  of  King  Liloa,  who  had,  however,  been  adopted  by  Kaleihokuu.  Another 
example  of  this  remarkable  power  is  seen  in  the  Kahuna  of  Ka'u,  who  massacred  the 
high  chief  Kohookalani,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Ninole,  tumbling  down  upon  him  a 
huge  tree  from  the  top  of  the  pali  (precipice)  of  Hilea. 

The  Kahuna,  especially  those  of  the  race  of  Paao,  were  the  natural  depositaries  of  his 
tory,  and  took  the  revered  title  ofMooolelo,  or  historians.  Some  individuals  of  this  stock 
still  exist,  and  they  are  all  esteemed  by  the  natives,  and  regarded  as  the  chiefs  of  the 
historical  and  priestly  caste.  The  sacerdotal  order  had  its  origin  in  Paao,  whose  de 
scendants  have  always  been  regarded  as  the  Kahuna  maoli.6  Paao  came  from  a  distant 
land  called  Kahiki.  According  to  several  chiefs,  his  genealogy  must  be  more  correct 
than  that  of  the  kings.  Common  tradition  declares  that  Paao  came  from  foreign  coun 
tries,  landing  on  the  north-west  shore  of  Hawaii  (Kohala),  at  Puuepa,  in  the  place  where, 
to  this  day,  are  seen  the  ruins  of  the  Heiau  (temple)  of  Mokini,  the  most  ancient  of  all 
the  temples,  and  which  he  is  said  to  have  built.  The  advent  of  Paao  and  his  erection 
of  this  heiau  are  so  ancient,  according  to  the  old  men,  that  Night  helped  the  priest 
raise  the  temple :  Na  lea  po  i  kukulu  ae  la  Moleini,  a  na  Paao  nae.  These  sayings,  in  the 
native  tongue,  indicate  the  liigh  antiquity  of  Paao.7 

To  build  the  temple  of  Mokini,  which  also  served  as  a  city  of  refuge,  Paao  had  stones 
brought  from  all  sides,  even  from  Pololu,  a  village  situated  four  or  five  leagues  from  Mo 
kini  or  Puuepa.  The  Kanakas  formed  a  chain  the  whole  length  of  the  route,  and  passed 
the  stones  from  one  to  another — an  easy  thing  in  those  .times — from  the  immense  pop 
ulation  of  the  neighborhood. 

Paao  has  always  been  considered  as  the  first  of  the  Kahuna.  For  this  reason  his  de 
scendants,  independently  of  the  fact  that  they  are  regarded  as  Moolcahuna,  that  is,  of  the 
priesthood,  are  more  like  nobles  in  the  eye  of  the  people,  and  are  respected  by  the  chiefs 
themselves.  There  are,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Mokini,  stones  which  are  considered  pet 
rifactions  of  the  canoe,  paddles,  and  fish-hooks  of  Paao. 

At  Pololu,  toward  the  mountain,  are  found  fields  of  a  very  beautiful  verdure.  They 
are  called  the  pastures,  or  grass-plots,  of  Paao  (Na  mauu  a  Paao).  The  old  priest  culti 
vated  these  fields  himself,  where  no  one  since  his  time  has  dared  to  use  spade  or  mat 
tock.  If  an  islander  was  impious  enough  to  cultivate  the  meadow  of  Paao,  the  people 
believe  that  a  terrible  punishment  would  be  the  inevitable  consequence  of  that  profana 
tion.  Disastrous  rains,  furious  torrents,  would  surely  ravage  the  neighboring  country. 

Some  Hawaiians  pretend  that  there  exists  another  sacerdotal  race  besides  that  of 
Paao,  more  ancient  even  than  that,  and  whose  priests  belonged  at  the  same  time  to  a 
race  of  chiefs.  It  is  the  family  of  Maui,  probably  of  Maui-hope,  the  last  of  the  seven 
children  of  Hina,8  the  same  who  captured  the  sea-monster  Piimoe.  The  origin  of  this 
race,  to  which  Naihe  of  Kohala  pretends  to  belong,  is  fabulous.  Since  the  reign  of 
Kamehameha,  the  priests  of  the  order  of  Maui  have  lost  favor. 

The  second  class  of  the  clergy  was  composed  of  the  prophets  (Kauld),  an  inoffensive 
and  very  respectable  people,  who  gave  vent  to  their  inspiration  from  time  to  time  in  un 
expected  and  uncalled-for  prophesies. 


232  APPENDIX. 

The  third  order  of  the  clergy  is  that  of  Kilo,  diviners  or  magicians.  With  these  may 
be  classed  the  Kilolcilo,  the  Kahunalapaau  and  Kahunaanaana,  a  sort  of  doctors  regard 
ed  as  sorcerers,  to  whom  was  attributed  the  power  of  putting  to  death  by  sorcery  and 
witchcraft.9  The  Kahunaanaana  and  the  Kahunalapaau  have  never  been  considered  as 
belonging  to  the  high  caste  of  Kahuna  maoli. 

The  Kahunaanaana,  or  sorcerers,  inherited  their  functions.  They  were  thoroughly  de 
tested,  and  the  people  feared  them,  and  do  to  this  day.  When  the  chiefs  were  dissatis 
fied  with  a  sorcerer,  they  had  his  head  cut  off  with  a  stone  axe  (koipohdku),  or  cast  him 
from  the  top  of  a  pali. 

The  doctors  were  of  two  kinds.  The  first,  the  Kahunalapaau  proper,  comprised  all 
who  used  plants  in  the  treatment  of  disease.  Just  as  the  sorcerers  understood  poisonous 
vegetables,  so  the  doctors  knew  the  simples  which  furnished  remedies  to  work  cures. 
The  second  kind  comprised  the  spiritual  doctors,  who  had  various  names,  and  who  seem 
to  have  been  intermediate  between  priests  and  magicians,  sharing  at  once  in  the  attri 
butes  of  both.  They  were : 

Kahuna  uhane,  the  doctors  of  ghosts  and  spirits  ; 

Kahuna  malcani,  doctors  of  winds ; 

Kahuna  JwonoJionoJio  akua,  who  caused  the  gods  to  descend  on  the  sick ; 

Kahuna,  aumakua,  doctors  of  diseases  of  the  old ; 

Kahuna  PeU,  doctors  or  priests  of  Pele,  goddess  of  volcanoes. 

All  the  doctors  of  the  second  kind  are  still  found  in  the  islands,10  where  they  have  re 
mained  idolaters,  although  they  have  been  for  the  most  part  baptized.  There  is  hardly 
a  Kanaka  who  has  not  had  recourse  to  them  in  his  complaints,  preferring  their  cures 
and  their  remedies  to  those  of  the  foreign  physicians.  Laws  have  been  enacted  to  pro 
hibit  these  charlatans  from  exercising  their  art ;  but  under  the  rule  of  Karnehameha  III., 
who  protected  them,  these  laws  have  not  been  enforced. 

THE  CITIZENS.      NA  MAKAAINANA. 

The  class  of  MaTcaainana  comprises  all  the  inhabitants  not  included  in  the  two  pre 
ceding  classes;  that  is  to  say,  the  bulk  of  the  people. 

There  were  two  degrees  of  this  cast :  the  Icanaka  wale,  freemen,  private  citizens,  and 
the  Jcauwa  or  servants.  The  Hawaiian  saying,  0  luna,  o  lalo,  Jcai,  o  uka  a  o  lea  Jiao  pae,  Tco 
Ice  'Hi  (All  above,  all  below,  the  sea,  the  land,  and  iron  cast  upon  the  shore,  all  belong 
to  the  king),  exactly  defines  the  third  class  of  the  nation,  called  makaainana,  the  class 
that  possesses  nothing,  and  has  no  right  save  that  of  sustenance. 

The  Hawaiians  honored  canoe-builders  and  great  fishers  as  privileged  citizens.  The 
chiefs  themselves  granted  them  some  consideration ;  but  it  must  be  confessed  that  the 
honorable  position  they  occupied  in  society  was  due  to  their  skill  in  their  calling  rather 
than  to  any  thing  else.  These  builders  were  generally  deeply  in  debt.  They  ate  in  ad 
vance  the  price  of  their  labor,  which  usually  consisted  of  hogs  and  fowls,  and  they  died 
of  starvation  before  the  leaves  ceased  to  sprout  on  the  tree  their  adze  had  transformed 
into  a  canoe. 

The  Icauwa,  servants,  must  not  be  confounded  with  the  Icauwa  maoli,  actual  slaves.  A 
high  chief,  even  a  wohi,  would  call  himself  without  dishonor  Ice  Tcauwa  a  Tee  'Hi  nui,  the 
servant  of  the  king.  At  present,  their  excellencies  the  ministers  and  the  nobles  do  not 
hesitate  to  sign  their  names  under  the  formula  Icou  Icauwa,  your  servant ;  but  it  is  none 
the  less  true,  for  all  that,  that  formerly  there  were  among  the  common  people  a  class, 


APPENDIX.  233 

few  in  number,  of  slaves,  or  serfs,  greatly  despised  by  the  Hawaiians,  and  still  to  our  days 
so  lowered  in  public  opinion  that  a  simple  peasant  refuses  to  associate  with  the  de 
scendants  of  this  caste. 

They  point  the  finger  at  people  of  kauwa  extraction,  lampoon  them,  and  touch  the 
soles  of  their  feet  when  they  speak  of  them,  to  mark  the  lowness  of  their  origin.  If  they 
were  independent,  and  even  rich,  an  ordinary  islander  would  deem  himself  disgraced  to 
marry  his  daughter  to  one  of  these  pariahs. 

The  slaves  were  not  permitted  to  cross  the  threshold  of  the  chiefs'  palace.  They 
could  do  no  more  than  crawl  on  hands  and  knees  to  the  door.  In  spite  of  the  many 
changes  infused  into  Hawaiian  institutions,  the  kauwa  families  remain  branded  with  a 
stigma,  in  the  opinion  of  the  natives,  and  the  laws,  which  accord  them  the  same  rights 
as  other  citizens,  can  not  reinstate  them. 

It  seems  certain  that  the  origin  of  slavery  among  the  Hawaiians  must  be  sought  in 
conquests.  The  vanquished,  who  were  made  prisoners,  became  slaves,  and  their  poster 
ity  inherited  their  condition. 

From  time  immemorial  the  islanders  have  clothed  themselves,  the  men  with  the  mqlo, 
the  women  with  the  pan.  The  malo  is  bound  around  the  loins,  after  having  passed  be 
tween  the  legs,  to  cover  the  pudenda.  The  pau  is  a  short  skirt,  made  of  bark  cloth  or  of 
the  ki  leaves,  which  reaches  from  the  waist  half  down  to  the  knees.  The  old  popular 
songs  show  clearly  that  this  costume  has  always  been  worn  by  the  natives.  To  go  na 
ked  was  regarded  as  a  sign  of  madness,  or  as  a  mark  of  divine  birth.  Sometimes  the 
kings  were  attended  by  a  man  sprung  from  the  gods,  and  this  happy  mortal  alone  had 
the  right  to  follow,  puris  naturalibus,  his  august  master.  The  people  said,  in  speaking 
of  him,  He  akua  ia,  he  is  a  god. 

Kapa,  a  kind  of  large  sheet  in  which  the  chiefs  dressed  themselves,  was  made  of  the 
soaked  and  beaten  bark  of  several  shrubs,  such  as  the  wauke,  olona,  hau,  oloa.  Fine 
varieties  were  even  made  of  the  kukui  (Aleurites  moluccana).  In  ancient  times  it  was 
an  offense  punishable  with  death  for  a  common  man  to  wear  a  double  kapa  or  malo. 

The  Hawaiians  have  never  worn  shoes.  In  certain  districts  where  lava  is  very  abun 
dant,  they  make  sandals  (Jcamaa)  with  the  leaves  of  the  ki  and  pandanus.  They  always 
go  bare-headed,  except  in  battle,  where  they  like  to  exhibit  themselves  adorned  with  a 
sort  of  helmet  made  of  twigs  and  feathers. 

The  women  never  wear  any  thing  but  flowers  on  their  heads.  Tattooing  was  known, 
but  less  practiced  than  at  the  Marquesas,  and  much  more  rudely. 

The  Hawaiians  are  not  cannibals.  They  have  been  upbraided  in  Europe  as  eaters  of 
human  flesh,  but  such  is  not  the  case.  They  have  never  killed  a  man  for  food.  It  is 
true  that  in  sacrifices  they  eat  certain  parts  of  the  victim,  but  there  it  was  a  religious 
rite,  not  an  act  of  cannibalism.  So,  also,  when  they  ate  the  flesh  of  their  dearest  chiefs, 
it  was  to  do  honor  to  their  memory  by  a  mark  of  love  :  they  never  eat  the  flesh  of  bad 
chiefs. 

The  Hawaiians  do  not  deny  that  the  entrails  of  Captain  Cook  were  eaten ;  but  they 
insist  that  it  was  done  by  children,  who  mistook  them  for  the  viscera  of  a  hog,  an  er 
ror  easily  explained  when  it  is  known  that  the  body  had  been  opened  and  stripped  of 
as  much  flesh  as  possible,  to  be  burned  to  ashes,  as  was  due  the  body  of  a  god.  The 
officers  of  the  distinguished  navigator  demanded  his  bones,  but  as  they  were  destroyed,* 

*  This  was  not  true.  Liholiho  carried  some  to  England,  and  the  rest  were  probably  hidden  in 
som^  of  the  many  caverns  on  the  shores  of  Kealakeakua  Bay. — Trans. 


234  APPENDIX. 

those  of  a  Kanaka  were  surrendered  in  their  stead,  receiving  on  board  the  ships  of  the 
expedition  the  honors  intended  for  the  unfortunate  commander. 

The  condition  of  the  women  among  the  ancient  Hawaiians  was  like  that  of  servants 
well  treated  by  their  masters.  The  chiefesses  alone  enjoyed  equal  rights  with  men.  It 
is  a  convincing  proof  that  women  were  regarded  as  inferior  to  men,  that  they  could  in 
no  case  eat  with  their  husbands,  and  that  the  kapu  was  often  put  upon  their  eating 
the  most  delicious  food.  Thus  bananas  were  prohibited  on  pain  of  death.  Their  prin 
cipal  occupations  consisted  in  making  kapa,  the  rnalo  and  pau,  and  in  preparing  food. 

Marriage  was  performed  by  cohabitation  with  the  consent  of  the  relations.  Polygamy 
was  only  practiced  by  the  chiefs.  Children  were  very  independent,  and  although  their 
parents  respected  them  so  much  as  seldom  to  dare  lay  hands  on  them,  they  were  quite 
ready  to  part  with  them  to  oblige  a  friend  who  evinced  a  desire  for  them.  Often  an 
infant  was  promised  before  birth.  This  singular  custom  still  exists,  but  is  much  less 
frequent. 

They  had  little  regard  for  old  men  who  had  become  useless,  and  even  killed  them  to 
get  them  out  of  the  way.  It  was  allowable  to  suffocate  infants  to  avoid  the  trouble  of 
bringing  them  up.  Women  bestowed  their  affection  upon  dogs  and  pigs,  and  suckled 
them  equally  with  their  children.  Fleas,  lice,  and  grasshoppers  were  eaten,  but  flies  in 
spired  an  unconquerable  horror ;  if  one  fell  into  a  calabash  of  poi,  the  whole  was  thrown 
away.11 

The  Hawaiians  practiced  a  sort  of  circumcision,  differing  from  that  of  the  Jjsws,  but 
having  the  same  sanitary  object.  This  operation  (mahele)  consisted  in  slitting' the  pre 
puce  by  means  of  a  bamboo.  The  mahele  has  fallen  into  disuse,  but  is  still  practiced  in 
some  places,  unbeknown  to  the  missionaries,  upon  children  eight  or  ten  years  old.  A 
sort  of  priest  (kahuna)  performs  the  operation.12 

The  Hawaiian  women  are  always  delivered  without  pain,  except  in  very  exceptional 
cases.  The  first  time  they  had  occasion  to  witness,  in  the  persons  of  the  missionaries' 
wives,  the  painful  childbirths  of  the  white  race,  they  could  not  restrain  their  bursts  of 
laughter,  supposing  it  to  be  mere  custom,  and  not  pain,  that  could  thus  draw  cries  from 
the  wives  of  the  Haole  (foreigners). 

The  ancient  Hawaiians  cared  for  their  dead.  They  wrapped  them  in  kapa  with  fra 
grant  herbs,  such  as  the  flowers  of  the  sugar-cane,  which  had  the  property  of  embalming 
them.  They  buried  in  their  houses,  or  carried  their  bodies  to  grottoes  dug  in  the  solid 
rock.  More  frequently  they  were  deposited  in  natural  caves,  a  kind  of  catacombs,  where 
the  corpses  were  preserved  without  putrefaction,  drying  like  mummies.  It  was  a  sacred 
duty  to  furnish  food  to  the  desfd  for  several  weeks.  Sometimes  the  remains  were  thrown 
into  the  boiling  lava  of  the  volcanoes,  and  this  mode  of  sepulture  was  regarded  as  hom 
age  paid  to  the  goddess  Pele,  who  fed  principally  on  human  flesh. 

THE   STORY  OF   UMI :    HIS   BIRTH   AND   YOUTH. 

Liloa  reigned  over  the  island  of  Hawaii.  In  the  course  of  one  of  his  journeys  through 
the  province  of  Hamakua,  he  met  a  woman  of  the  people  named  Akahikanieainoa,  who 
pleased  him,  and  whose  favors  he  claimed  as  supreme  chief. 

Akahikameainoa  was  then  in  her  menses,  so  that  the  malo  of  the  king  was  soiled 
with  the  discharge.  Liloa  said  to  the  woman :  "  If  you  bring  into  the  world  a  man- 
child,  it  shall  belong  to  me ;  if  a  girl,  it  shall  be  yours.  I  leave  with  you  as  tokens  of 
my  sovereign  \vill  my  niho  palaao  (whale's  tooth),  and  my  lei.  Conceal  these  things 


APPENDIX.  235 

from  all  eyes ;  they  will  one  day  be  a  souvenir  of  our  relation,  a  proof  of  the  paternity 
of  the  child  who  shall  be  born  from  our  loves." 

That  would,  indeed,  be  an  unexceptionable  testimony,  for  by  the  law  of  kapu  a  wife 
could  not,  under  pain  of  death,  approach  her  husband  while  in  her  courses.  The  soiled 
malo  and  the  time  of  the  child's  birth  would  give  certain  indications. 

Akahikameainoa  carefully  concealed  the  royal  tokens  of  her  adultery,  saying  nothing 
to  any  one,  not  even  to  her  husband.  The  spot  where  she  hid  them  is  known  to  this 
day  as  Huna  na  niho,  the  hiding-place  of  the  teeth. 

Liloa  then  held  his  court  at  Waipio  in  all  the  splendor  of  the  time.  Besides  a  con 
siderable  troop  of  servants,  he  had  in  attendance  priests  (kahuna),  prophets  (kaula), 
nobles,  and  his  only  son,  Hakau.  The  palace  was  made  merry  night  and  day  by  the  li 
centious  motions  of  the  dancers,  and  by  the  music  of  the  resounding  calabashes. 

Nine  moons  after  her  meeting  with  the  king,  Akahikameainoa  gave  birth  to  a  man- 
child,  which  she  called  Umi,  and  brought  up  under  the  roof  of  her  husband,  who  be 
lieved  himself  the  father.  The  child  developed  rapidly,  became  strong,  and  acquired  a 
royal  stature.  In  his  social  games,  in  the  sports  of  youth,  he  always  bore  away  the  palm. 
He  was,  moreover,  a  great  eater :  Hao  wale  i  lea  ai  a  me  lea  ia.13  In  a  word,  Umi  was  a 
perfect  Kanaka,  and  a  skillful  fighter,  who  made  his  comrades  suffer  for  it.  At  this  time 
he  conceived  a  strong  affection  for  two  peasants  of  the  neighborhood,  Koi  of  Kukui- 
haole  and  Omakamau,  who  became  his  aikane. 

One  day  his  supposed  father,  angry  at  his  conduct,  was  about  to  punish  him :  "  Strike 
him  not,"  exclaimed  Akahikameainoa,  "  he  is  your  lord  and  chief!  Do  not  imagine 
that  he  is  the  son  of  us  two :  he  is  the  child  of  Liloa,  your  king."  Umi  was  then  about 
fifteen  or  sixteen  years  old. 

His  mother,  after  this  declaration,  startling  as  a  thunder-bolt,  went  and  uncovered  the 
tokens  Liloa  had  left  as  proof,  and  placed  them  before  her  husband,  who  was  motion 
less  with  fear  at  the  thought  of  the  high  treason  he  had  been  on  the  point  of  commit 
ting. 

In  the  mean  time,  Liloa  had  grown  old,  and  Akahikameainoa,  deeming  the  moment 
had  arrived,  invested  Umi  with  the  royal  malo,  the  niho  palaoa,  and  the  lei,  emblems  of 
power,  which  high  chiefs  alone  had  the  right  to  wear.  "  Go,"  said  she  to  him  then ; 
u  go,  my  son,  present  yourself  at  Waipio  to  King  Liloa,  your  father.  Tell  him  you  are 
his  child,  and  show  him,  in  proof  of  your  words,  these  tokens  which  he  left  with  me." 

Umi,  proud  enough  of  the  revelation  of  his  mother,  at  once  departs,  accompanied  by 
Koi  and  Omakamau. 

The  palace  of  Liloa  was  surrounded  by  guards,  priests,  diviners,  and  sorcerers.  The 
kapu  extended  to  the  edge  of  the  outer  inclosure,  and  no  one  might  pass  on  penalty  of 
death.  Umi  advanced  boldly  and  crossed  the  threshold.  Exclamations  and  cries  of 
death  sounded  in  his  ears  from  all  sides.  Without  troubling  himself,  he  passed  on  and 
entered  the  end  door.  Liloa  was  asleep,  wrapped  in  his  royal  mantle  of  red  and  yellow 
feathers.  Umi  stooped,  and,  without  ceremony,  uncovered  his  head.  Liloa,  awakening, 
said,  "  Owai  la  Ma  ?— Who  is  this  ?"  "  It  is  I,"  replied  the  youth ;  "  it  is  I,  Umi,  your 
son."  So  saying,  he  displays  his  malo  at  the  king's  feet.  At  this  token  Liloa,  while 
rubbing  his  eyes,  recognized  Umi,  and  had  him  proclaimed  his  son.  Behold,  then,  Umi 
admitted  to  the  rank  of  high  chief,  if  not  the  equal  of  Hakau,  his  eldest  son,  at  least  his 
prime  minister  by  birth — his  lieutenant. 

The  two  brothers  lived  at  court  on  an  equal  footing.     They  took  part  in  the  same 


236  APPENDIX. 

Amusements,  wrestling,  drawing  the  bow,  plunged  with  eagerness  into  all  the  noble  ex 
ercises  of  the  country  and  the  time.  The  people  of  Umi's  suite  matched  themselves 
with  those  of  Hakau  in  the  combat  with  the  long  lance  (pololu),  and  the  party  of  Umi 
was  always  victorious,  compelling  Hakau  to  retire  in  confusion. 

Liloa,  perceiving  that  his  last  hour  was  drawing  near,  called  his  two  children  to 
him,  and  said  to  them,  "  You,  Hakau,  will  be  chief,  and  you,  Umi,  will  be  his  man." 
This  last  expression  is  equivalent  to  viceroy  or  prime  minister.  The  two  brothers  bow 
ed,  in  token  of  assent,  and  the  old  chief  continued :  "  Do  you,  Hakau,  respect  your  man ; 
and  do  you,  Umi,  respect  your  sovereign.  If  you,  Hakau,  have  no  consideration  for 
your  man,  if  you  quarrel  with  him,  I  am  not  disturbed  at  the  results  of  your  conduct. 
In  the  same  way,  Umi,  unless  you  render  your  sovereign  the  homage  you  owe  him,  if 
you  rebel  against  him,  it  will  be  for  you  two  to  decide  your  lot."  Soon  after,  having 
made  known  his  last  wishes,  Liloa  gave  up  the  ghost. 

Umi,  who  was  of  a  proud  and  independent  character,  foreseeing,  no  doubt,  t  >ren  then, 
the  wicked  conduct  of  his  brother,  would  not  submit  to  him,  and  refused  to  appear  in 
his  presence.  Giving  up  his  share  of  power,  he  departed  from  Waipio  with  his  two 
aikane,  and  retired  into  the  mountains,  where  he  gave  himself  up  to  bird-catching. 

Hakau  then  reigned  alone,  and  ruled  according  to  his  fancy.  Abusing  his  authority, 
he  made  himself  feared,  but,  at  the  same  time,  detested  by  his  people.  He  brought  upon 
himself  the  censure  of  the  chief  attendants  of  his  father,  whom  he  provoked  by  all  sorts 
of  humiliations  and  insults.  If  he  saw  any  one  of  either  sex  remarkable  for  good  looks, 
he  had  them  tattooed  in  a  frightful  manner  for  his  good  pleasure. 

Meanwhile  Umi,  who  had  a  taste  for  savage  life,  had  taken  leave  of  his  favorites,  and 
wandered  alone  in  the  midst  of  the  forests  and  mountains.  One  day,  when  he  descend 
ed  to  the  shore  at  Laupahoehoe,  in  the  district  of  Hilo,  he  fell  in  love  with  a  woman  of 
the  people,  and  made  her  his  companion  without  arousing  a  suspicion  of  his  high  birth. 
Devoting  himself,  then,  to  field  labor,  he  was  seen  sometimes  cultivating  the  ground, 
and  sometimes  going  down  to  the  sea  to  fish. 

By  generous  offerings,  he  knew  how  to  skillfully  flatter  an  old  man  named  Kaleiho- 
kuu,  an  influential  priest,  who  at  last  adopted  him  as  one  of  his  children.  Umi  always 
kept  at  the  head  of  the  farmers  and  fishermen,  and  a  considerable  number,  recognizing 
his  physical  superiority,  voluntarily  enrolled  themselves  under  his  orders  and  those  of 
his  foster-father;  he  was  only  known  by  the  name  of  Hanai  (foster-child)  of  Kaleiho- 
kuu.  Meditating  probably,  even  then,  a  way  of  acquiring  supreme  power,  Umi  exerted 
himself  to  gain  the  sympathies  of  the  people,  in  whose  labors  he  took  an  incredible 
part.  There  are  seen  to  this  day,  above  Laupahoehoe,  the  fields  which  Umi  cultivated, 
and  near  the  sea  can  be  seen  the  heiau,  or  temple,  in  which  Kaleihokuu  offered  sacri 
fices  to  the  gods. 

Hakau  continued  to  reign,  always  without  showing  the  least  respect  to  the  old  offi 
cers  of  Liloa,  his  father.  Two  old  men,  high  chiefs  by  birth,  and  highly  honored  under 
the  preceding  reign,  had  persisted  in  residing  near  the  palace  at  Waipio,  in  spite  of  the 
insults  to  which  the  nearness  of  the  court  exposed  them.  One  day  when  they  were 
hungry,  after  a  long  scarcity  of  food,  they  said  to  one  of  their  attendants : '."  Go  to  the 
palace  of  Hakau.  Tell  his  Majesty  that  the  two  old  chiefs  are  hungry,  and  demand  of 
him,  in  our  name,  food,  fish,  and  awa."  "  The  attendant  went  at  once  to  the  king  to 
fulfill  his  mission.  Hakau  replied  with  foul  and  insulting  terms :  "  Go  tell  the  two  old 
men  that  they  shall  have  neither  food,  fish,  nor  awa  I1'  The  two  chiefs,  on  hearing  this 


APPENDIX.  237 

cruel  reply,  commenced  to  deplore  their  lot,  and  regret  more  bitterly  than  ever  the  time 
they  lived  under  Liloa.  Then  rousing  themselves,  they  said  to  their  attendant,  "  We 
have  heard  of  the  foster- son  of  Kaleihokuu,  of  his  activity,  courage,  and  generosity. 
Lose  no  time ;  go  directly  to  Laupahoehoe,  and  tell  Kaleihokuu  that  two  chiefs  desire 
to  see  his  adopted  son."  The  servant  went  with  all  speed  to  Laupahoehoe,  where  he 
delivered  his  master's  message.  Kaleihokuu  told  him,  "Return  to  your  masters,  tell 
them  that  they  will  be  welcome,  if  they  will  come  to-morrow  to  see  my  foster -son." 
The  old  men,  at  this  news,  hastened  to  depart.  Arrived  at  the  abode  of  Kaleihokuu, 
they  found  no  one,  except  a  man  asleep  on  the  mat.  They  entered,  nevertheless,  and 
sat  down,  leaning  their  backs  against  the  walls  of  the  pandanus  house.  "At  last," 
said  they,  sighing,  " our  bones  are  going  to  revive,  akahi  a  ola  na  iwi"  Then,  address 
ing  the  slumbering  man,  "  Are  you,  then,  alone  here  ?" — "  Yes,"  replied  the  young  man ; 
"  Kaleihokuu  is  in  the  fields."—"  We  are,"  added  they,  "  the  two  old  men  of  Waipio, 
come  expressly  to  see  the  priest's  foster-son." 

The  young  man  rises  without  saying  a  word,  prepares  an  abundant  repast — an  entire 
hog,  fish,  and  awa.  The  two  old  men  admired  the  activity  and  skill  of  the  youth,  and 
said  to  themselves,  "At  all  events,  if  the  foster-son  of  Kaleihokuu  were  as  vigorous  a 
stripling  as  this,  we  should  renew  our  life  !"  The  young  unknown  served  them  food, 
and  made  them  drunk  with  awa,  and,  according  to  the  usage  of  those  times,15  gave  up 
to  them  the  women  of  Kaleihokuu,  that  his  hospitality  might  be  complete. 

The  next  morning  the  old  men  saw  Kaleihokuu,  and  said  to  him,  "  Here  we  have 
come  to  become  acquainted  with  your  foster- son.  May  it  please  the  gods  that  he  be 
like  that  fine  young  fellow  who  entertained  us  at  your  house  !  Our  bones  would  re 
vive." — "Ah,  indeed,"  replied  Kaleihokuu;  "he  who  has  so  well  received  you  is  my 
Jceiki  Jianai.  I  left  him  at  the  house  on  purpose  to  perform  for  you  the  duties  of  hos 
pitality."  The  two  old  men,  rejoiced  at  what  they  learned,  told  the  priest  and  his 
adopted  son  the  ill  treatment  they  had  received  at  the  court  of  Hakau.  No  more  was 
needed  to  kindle  a  war  at  once. 

At  the  head  of  a  considerable  troop  of  people  attached  to  the  service  of  Kaleihokuu, 
Umi  went  by  forced  marches  to  Waipio,  and  the  next  day  Hakau  had  ceased  to  reign. 
He  had  been  slain  by  the  very  hand  of  the  vigorous  foster-son  of  the  priest. 

THE   REIGN  OF  UMI. 

Umi  ruled  in  place  of  Hakau.  His  two  aikane,  Koi  and  Omakamau,  had  joined  him, 
and  resided  at  his  court.  Piimaiwaa  of  Hilo  was  his  most  valiant  warrior.  la  ia  lea 
mama  Tcakaua — to  him  belonged  the  baton  of  war,  a  figurative  expression  denoting  the 
general-in-chief.  Pakaa  was  one  of  the  favorites  of  Umi,  and  Lono  was  his  kahuna. 

While  Umi  reigned  over  the  eastern  shores  of  the  island,  one  of  his  cousins,  Keliio- 
kaloa,  ruled  the  western  coast,  and  held  his  court  at  Kailua.  It  was  under  the  reign 
of  this  prince,  about  two  centuries  before  the  voyage  of  Captain  Cook,  that  a  ship  was 
wrecked  near  Keei,  in  the  district  of  Kona,  not  far  from  the  place  where  the  celebrated 
English  navigator  met  his  death  in  1779.  It  was  about  1570*  that  men  of  the  white 
race  first  landed  in  the  archipelago.  One  man  and  one  woman  escaped  from  the  wreck, 
and  reached  land  near  Kealakeakua.  Coming  to  the  shore,  these  unfortunates  pros 
trated  themselves  on  the  lava,  with  their  faces  to  the  earth,  whence  comes  the  name 

*  The  Hawaiian  Islands  were  discovered  in  1555,  by  Juan  Gaetano,  or  Gaytan. — Trans. 


238  APPENDIX. 

Kulou,  a  lowing  down,  which  the  place  which  witnessed  this  scene  still  bears.  The 
shipwrecked  persons  soon  conformed  to  the  customs  of  the  natives,  who  pretend  that 
there  exists  to  our  day  a  family  of  chiefs  descended  from  these  two  whites.  The  Prin 
cess  Lohea,  daughter  of  Liliha,16  still  living,  is  considered  of  this  origin.  Keliiohaloa, 
who  reigned  over  the  coast  where  this  memorable  event  took  place,  was  a  wicked 
prince,  who  delighted  in  wantonly  felling  cocoa-nut  trees  and  laying  waste  cultivated 
lands.  His  ravages  induced  Umi  to  declare  war  against  him. 

He  took  the  field  at  the  head  of  his  army,  accompanied  by  his  famous  warrior,  Piiinai- 
waa ;  his  friends,  Koi  and  Omakamau ;  his  favorite,  Pakaa ;  and  Lono,  his  Kahuna.  He 
turned  the  flanks  of  Mauna  Kea,  and  advancing  between  this  mountain  and  Hualalai, 
in  the  direction  of  Mauna  Loa,  arrived  at  the  great  central  plateau  of  the  island,  intend 
ing  to  make  a  descent  upon  Kailua.  Keliiokaloa  did  not  wait  for  him.  Placing  him 
self  at  the  head  of  his  warriors,  he  marched  to  meet  Umi.  The  two  armies  met  on  the 
high  plain  bounded  by  the  colossi  of  Hawaii,  at  the  place  which  is  called  Ahua  a  Umi. 

Two  men  of  the  slave  race,  called  Laepuni,  famous  warriors  of  Keliiokaloa,  fought  with 
a  superhuman  courage,  and  Umi  was  about  to  fall  under  their  blows,  when  Piimaiwaa, 
coming  to  his  rescue,  caused  the  victory  to  incline  to  his  side.  Although  history  is  silent, 
it  is  probable  that  the  king  of  Kailua  perished  in  the  battle. 

This  victory  completely  rid  Umi  of  his  last  rival ;  he  reigned  henceforth  as  sole  ruler 
of  Hawaii ;  and  to  transmit  to  posterity  the  remembrance  of  this  remarkable  battle,  he 
caused  to  be  erected  on  the  battle-field,  by  the  people  of  the  six  provinces,  Hilo,  Hama- 
kua,  Kohala,  Kona,  Ka'u,  and  Puna,  a  singular  monument,  composed  of  six  polyhedral 
piles  of  ancient  lava  collected  in  the  vicinity.  A  seventh  pyramid  was  raised  by  his  no 
bles  and  officers.  In  the  centre  of  these  enormous  piles  of  stone  he  built  a  temple,  whose 
remains  are  still  sufficiently  perfect  to  enable  one  to  restore  the  entire  plan.  The  whole 
of  this  vast  monument  is  called,  after  the  name  of  its  builder,  the  Heaps  of  Umi — Ahua 
Umi. 

Umi  built  another  temple  at  the  foot  of  Pohaku  Hanalei,  on  the  coast  of  Kona,  called 
Ahua  Hanalei.  A  third  temple  was  also  erected  by  him  on  the  flank  of  Mauna  Kea,  in 
the  direction  of  Hilo,  at  the  place  called  Puukeekee.  Traces  of  a  temple  built  by  the 
same  king  may  also  be  recognized  at  Mauna  Halepohaha,  where  are  found  the  ruins  of 
Umi's  houses  covered  with  a  large  block  of  lava.1T 

They  give  Umi  the  name  of  King  of  the  Mountains.  Tradition  declares  that  he  re 
tired  to  the  centre  of  the  island,  through  love  for  his  people,  and  these  are  the  reasons 
which  explain  the  seclusion  to  which  he  devoted  himself.  It  was  a  received  custom  in 
Hawaiian  antiquity  that  the  numerous  attendants  of  the  chiefs,  when  traversing  a  planta 
tion,  should  break  down  the  cocoa-nuts,  lay  waste  the  fields,  and  commit  all  sorts  of  havoc 
prejudicial  to  the  interests  of  proprietors  or  cultivators.  To  avoid  a  sort  of  scourge 
which  followed  the  royal  steps,  Umi  made  his  abode  in  the  mountains,  in  order  that  the 
robberies  of  his  attendants  might  no  longer  cause  the  tears  of  the  people  to  flow.  In  his 
retreat  Umi  lived,  with  his  retainers,  upon  the  tribute  in  kind  which  his  subjects  brought 
him  from  all  parts  of  the  coast.  In  time  of  famine,  his  servants  went  through  the  forest 
and  collected  the  hapuu,  a  nourishing  fern  which  then  took  the  place  of  poi. 

Umi,  however,  did  not  spend  all  his  time  in  the  mountains.  He  came  to  live  at  various 
times  on  the  sea-shore  at  Kailua.  He  employed  everywhere  workmen  to  cut  stones,  to 
serve,  some  say,  in  the  construction  of  a  sepulchral  cave ;  according  to  others,  to  build  a 
magnificent  palace.  Whatever  may  have  been  their  destination,  the  stones  were  admi- 


APPENDIX.  239 

rably  hewn.18  In  our  days  the  Calvinistic  missionaries  have  used  them  in  the  erection  of 
the  great  church  of  Kailua,  without  any  need  of  cutting  them  anew.  There  are  still 
seen,  scattered  in  various  places,  the  hewn  stones  of  King  Umi,  na  pohaku  hilai  a  Umi. 
It  is  natural  to  suppose  that  they  used  to  hew  these  hard  and  very  large  stones  with 
other  tools  than  those  of  Hawaiian  origin.  Iron  must  have  been  known  in  the  time  of 
Umi,  and  its  presence  is  explained  by  the  wrecks  of  ships  which  ocean  currents  may 
have  drifted  ashore.  It  is  certain  that  they  were  acquainted  with  iron  long  before  the 
arrival  of  Cook,  as  is  proved  by  the  already  cited  passage  from  an  old  romance  :  0  luna, 

0  lalo,  Icai,  o  ukq,  a  o  lea  Mo  pae,  ko  Jse'lii. 

Umi,  some  time  before  his  death,  said  to  his  old  friend  Koi :  "  There  is  no  place,  nor 
is  there  any  possible  way  to  conceal  my  bones.  You  must  disappear  from  my  presence. 

1  am  going  to  take  back  all  the  lands  which  I  have  given  you  around  Hawaii,  and  they 
will  think  you  in  disgrace.    You  will  then  withdraw  to  another  island,  and  as  soon  as 
you  hear  of  my  death,  or  only  that  I  am  dangerously  sick,  return  secretly  to  take  away 
my  body." 

Koi  executed  the  wishes  of  the  chief,  his  aikane.  He  repaired  to  Molokai,  whence 
he  hastened  to  set  sail  for  Hawaii  as  soon  as  he  heard  of  Umi's  death.  He  landed  at 
Honokohau.  On  setting  foot  on  shore,  he  met  a  Kanaka,  in  all  respects  like  his  dearly- 
loved  chief.  He  seized  him,  killed  him,  and  carried  his  body  by  night  to  Kailua.  Koi 
entered  secretly  the  palace  where  the  corpse  of  Umi  was  lying.  The  guards  were  asleep, 
and  Koi  carried  away  the  royal  remains,  leaving  in  their  place  the  body  of  the  old  man 
of  Honokohau,  and  then  disappeared  with  his  canoe.  Some  say  that  he  deposited  the 
body  of  Umi  in  the  great  pali  of  Kahulaana,  but  no  one  knows  the  exact  spot ;  others 
say  that  it  was  in  a  cave  at  Waipio,  at  Puaahuku,  at  the  top  of  the  great  pali  over 
which  the  cascade  of  Hiilawe  falls. 

From  time  immemorial  it  was  the  custom  at  Hawaii  to  eat  the  flesh  of  great  chiefs 
after  death,  then  the  bones  were  collected  in  a  bundle,  and  concealed  far  out  of  the 
way.  Generally  it  was  to  a  faithful  attendant,  a  devoted  ~kahu,  that  the  honor  of  eating 
the  flesh  of  his  chief  belonged  by  a  sentiment  of  friendship,  no  Tee  aloha.  If  they  did 
not  always  eat  the  flesh  of  high  chiefs  and  distinguished  personages,  they  always  took 
away  their  dead  bodies,  to  bury  them  in  the  most  secret  caves,  or  in  most  inaccessible 
places.  But  the  same  care  was  not  taken  with  chiefs  who  had  been  regarded  as  wicked 
during  their  lives.  The  proverb  says  of  this :  Aole  e  nalo  ana  na  iwi  o  Ice  'Hi  Jcolohe ;  e 
nalo  loa  na  iwi  o  Tee  ^lii  maikai — The  bones  of  a  bad  chief  do  not  disappear ;  those  of  a 
good  chief  are  veiled  from  the  eyes  of  all  the  world. 

The  high  chiefs,  before  death,  made  their  most  trusty  attendants  swear  to  conceal 
their  bones  so  that  no  one  could  discover  them.  "I  do  not  wish,"  said  the  dying  chief, 
"  that  my  bones  should  be  made  into  arrows  to  shoot  mice,  or  into  fish-hooks."  So  it 
is  very  difficult  to  find  the  burial-place  of  such  or  such  a  chief.  Mausoleums  have  been 
built  in  some  places,  and  it  is  said  that  here  are  interred  the  nobles  and  kings ;  but  it 
would  seem  that  there  are  only  empty  coffins,  or  the  bodies  of  common  natives  substi 
tuted  for  those  of  the  personages  in  whose  honor  these  monuments  have  been  raised. 

THE   HISTORY   OF   KEAWE. 

Whatever  the  historian,  David  Malo,  may  say,  it  is  very  doubtful  whether  there  were 
several  chiefs  of  the  name  of  Keawe.  It  is  probable  that  there  was  only  one  high  chief 
of  this  name,  that  he  was  the  son  of  Umi,  and  was  called  Keawe  the  Great — Keawe  nui 


240  ,  APPENDIX. 

a  Umi.  David  Malo  was  interested,  as  the  natives  know,  in  swelling  the  genealogy  of 
the  alii,  and  he  wished  to  flatter  both  nobility  and  people  by  distinguishing  Keawe  nui, 
of  the  race  of  Umi,  from  another  Keawe.  There  are  two  Keawe,  as  seven  Maui,  and 
nine  Hina.  It  is  not,  indeed,  so  long  a  period  from  Umi  to  the  present  era,  that  we 
can  not  unveil  the  truth  from  the  clouds  which  surround  it. 

The  people,  in  general,  only  speak  of  one  Keawe,  who  inherited  the  power  of  his 
father  Umi.  He  was  supreme  ruler  in  the  island  of  Hawaii,  and  is  even  said  to  have 
united,  as  Kamehameha  has  since  done,  all  the  group  under  his  sceptre.  Kamehameha 
conquered  the  islands  by  force  of  arms  ;  Keawe  had  conquered  them  by  his  travels  and 
alliances.  While  he  passed  through  the  islands  of  Maui,  Molokai,  and  Oahu,  he  con 
tracted  marriages  everywhere,  as  well  with  the  women  of  the  people  as  with  the  high 
est  chiefesses.  These  unions  gave  him  children  who  made  him  beloved  of  all  the  high 
chiefs  of  that  time.  He  was  regarded  at  Maui  and  Oahu  as  supreme  king.  The  king 
of  Kauai  even  went  so  far  as  to  send  messengers  to  declare  to  him  that  he  recognized 
his  sovereignty.  Such  is  the  origin  of  Keawe's  power. 

By  his  numerous  marriages  with  chiefesses  and  common  women  without  distinction, 
this  king  has  made  the  Hawaiian  nobility,  the  present  alii  say,  bastard  and  dishonor 
ed.  The  chiefs  descended  from  Keawe  conceal  their  origin,  and  are  by  no  means  flat 
tered  when  reminded  of  it.  From  Keawe  down,  the  genealogies  become  a  focus  of  dis 
putes,  and  ijb  would  be  really  dangerous  for  the  rash  historian  who  did  not  spare  the 
susceptibilities  of  chiefs  on  this  subject. 

The  principle  on  which  those  who  condemn  the  conduct  of  Keawe  rests  is  the  purity 
of  the  blood  of  the  royal  stock,  required  by  ancient  usages,  whose  aim  was  to  preserve 
the  true  nobility  without  alloy.  Disdaining  this  rule,  Keawe  contracted  numerous  mar 
riages,  which  gave  him  as  mothers  of  his  children  women  of  low  birth.  The  posterity 
of  this  chief,  noble  without  doubt,  but  of  impure  origin,  likes  not  to  have  its  lame  gen 
ealogy  recalled.  It  is  with  the  sensitiveness  of  the  Hawaiians  on  this  subject,  as  with 
many  other  things  in  this  world :  they  attack  bitterly  the  amours  of  Keawe,  and  seem 
to  forget  that  Umi,  their  great  chief,  whose  memory  they  preserve  with  so  much  care, 
was  of  plebeian  blood  by  his  mother. 

It  seems  certain  that  King  Keawe  usually  resided  at  the  bay  of  Hoonaunau,  in  Kona. 
The  heiau  of  Hoonaunau,  where  may  still  be  seen  the  stakes  of  ohia  (Metrosideros) 
planted  by  Keawe,  is  called  Hale  a  Keawe — The  house  built  by  Keawe.  It  served  also  as 
a  City  of  Refuge.19 

VARIOUS  DOCUMENTS  ON  THE  PROVINCE  OF  KA'U. 

The  people  of  Ka'u  are  designated  in  the  group  under  the  name  of  Na  Mamo  a  ~ke 
Icipi — The  descendants  of  the  rebellion.  The  province  of  Ka'u  has  always  been  regard 
ed  as  a  land  fatal  to  chiefs.  At  the  present  day  an  inhabitant  of  Ka'u  can  be  distin 
guished  among  other  natives.  He  is  energetic,  haughty  in  speech,  and  always  ready 
to  strike  a  blow  when  occasion  presents.  He  is  proud,  and  worships  his  liberty.  Sev 
eral  Hawaiian  chiefs  have  been  killed  by  the  people  of  Ka'u,  among  others  Kohaoka- 
lani,  Koihala,  etc. 

THE   HISTORY   OF   KOHAOKALANI. 

He  was,  according  to  tradition,  the  most  important  chief  on  the  island,  and  reigned 
in  royal  state  at  Hilea.  He  it  was  who  built  the  heiau  situated  on  the  great  plain  of 


APPENDIX.  241 

Makanau.  The  sea-worn  pebbles  may  still  be  seen,  which  Kohaokalani  had  his  people 
carry  up  on  to  the  height,  about  two  leagues  from  the  shore.  These  pebbles  were  in 
tended  for  the  interior  pavement  of  the  temple.  The  people,  worn  out  by  the  great 
difficulty  of  transportation,  tired  of  the  yoke  of  royalty,  and  incited  by  disloyal  priests, 
began  to  let  their  discontent  and  discouragement  show  itself.  A  conspiracy  was  soon 
formed  by  these  two  classes  leagued  against  the  chief,  and  a  religious  ceremony  offer 
ed  an  occasion  to  rid  themselves  of  the  despot. 

The  temple  was  completed,  and  it  only  remained  to  carry  a  god  up  there.  This  di 
vinity  was  nothing  but  an  ohia-tree  of  enormous  size,  which  had  been  cut  down  in  the 
forest  above  Ninole.  At  the  appointed  day  the  chief  priests  and  people  set  to  work 
to  draw  the  god  to  his  residence.  In  order  to  reach  the  height  of  Makanau  there  was 
a  very  steep  pali  to  be  ascended.  They  had  to  carry  up  the  god  on  the  side  toward 
Ninole,  which  was  all  the  better  for  the  execution  of  their  premeditated  plan.  Arrived 
at  the  base  of  the  precipice,  all  pulled  at  the  rope ;  but  the  god,  either  by  the  contriv 
ance  of  the  priests,  or  owing  to  the  obstacles  which  the  roughness  of  the  rock  present 
ed,  ascended  only  with  great  difficulty.  "  The  god  will  never  come  to  the  top  of  the 
pali,"  said  the  Kahuna,  "  if  the  chief  continues  to  walk  before  him ;  the  god  should  go 
first  by  right  of  power,  and  the  chief  below,  following,  to  push  the  lower  end ;  other 
wise  we  shall  never  overcome  his  resistance."  The  high  chief,  Kohaokalani,  complied 
with  the  advice  of  the  priests,  placed  himself  beneath  the  god,  and  pushed  the  end 
from  below.  Instantly  priests  and  people  let  go  the  cord,  and  the  enormous  god,  roll 
ing  upon  the  chief,  crushed  him  at  once.  The  death  of  Kohaokalani  is  attributed  chief 
ly  to  the  Kahuna. 

THE   HISTORY   OF   KOIHALA. 

Koihala  reigned  at  Ka'u.  He  was  a  very  great  chief — perhaps  the  entire  island  rec 
ognized  his  authority.  An  abuse  of  power  hastened  his  death.  He  had  commanded 
the  people  of  Ka'u  to  bring  him  food  upon  the  plain  of  Punaluu,  at  the  place  known 
under  the  name  of  Puuonuhe.  A  party  of  men  set  out  with  pounded  kalo  (paiai,  dif 
fering  from  poi  in  not  being  diluted),  bound  up  in  leaves  of  ki,  called  la'i  (a  contrac 
tion  for  lau-ld).  When  they  arrived  at  the  top  of  the  plateau,  which  is  very  elevated, 
they  found  that  the  chief  had  set  out  for  Kaalikii,  two  leagues  from  Puuonuhe,  and 
that  he  had  left  orders  for  them  to  bring  him  the  provisions  in  this  distant  place.  The 
bearers  hastened  toward  Kaalikii.  As  soon  as  they  came  there,  orders  were  given  for 
them  to  proceed  to  Waioahukini,  half  a  league's  walk  in  the  same  direction,  and  be 
neath  the  great  pali  of  Malilele,  on  the  shore.  They  went  on.  Arrived  at  Waioahu 
kini,  they  were  ordered  to  go  and  join  the  chief  at  Kalae.  There  they  had  to  climb 
again  the  great  pali,  and  two  leagues  more  to  go.  When  they  reached  the  cape  of  Ka 
lae,  the  most  southern  point  of  the  Hawaiian  group,  they  were  sent  to  seek  the  chief 
at  the  village  of  Maliana ;  but  he  had  left  for  Paihaa,  a  village  near  Kaalualu,  a  little 
bay  where  the  native  vessels  now  anchor.  There,  at  last,  they  must  find  the  tyrant. 
Exasperated,  dying  of  hunger,  indignant  at  the  cruel  way  in  wThich  the  chief  made 
sport  of  their  pains,  the  bearers  sat  down  on  the  grass  and  took  counsel.  First  they 
decided  to  eat  up  the  food,  without  leaving  any  thing  for  the  chief  who  entertained 
himself  so  strangely  in  fatiguing  his  people  (Jwoluhi  Jieica).  They  moreover  deter 
mined  to  carry  to  him,  instead  of  kalo,  bundles  of  stones.  The  trial  of  Koihala  is  end 
ed,  his  insupportable  yoke  is  about  to  fall. 

16 


242  APPENDIX. 

The  determined  conspirators,  after  satisfying  their  hunger,  set  off,  and  soon  arrived, 
with  humble  mien,  in  the  presence  of  the  chief,  between  Paihau  and  Kaalualu.  "  Prince," 
said  they,  "  here  are  your  servants  with  provisions.-"  They  humbly  laid  at  his  feet  their 
bundles 'wrapped  in  la'i.  The  wrappers  were  opened,  and  the  scene  changes.  These 
people,  apparently  half  dead,  became  in  an  instant  like  furious  lions,  ready  to  devour 
their  prey.  They  armed  themselves  with  stones,  and  showered  them  upon  Koihala 
and  his  company,  who  perished  together. 

Two  other  high  chiefs  of  the  island  were  exterminated  by  the  same  people.  One 
was  killed  at  Kalae,  beaten  to  'death  by  the  paddles  of  fishermen  ;  the  other  was  stoned 
at  Aukukano. 

These  revolts  against  the  chiefs  have  given  birth  to  several  proverbial  expressions, 
applied  to  the  district  of  Ka'u.  Thus  it  is  called  Aina  makaha — Land  of  torrents :  a  na 
tion  which  removes  and  shatters  every  thing  like  a  torrent ;  Ka?u  makaha — Ka'u  the  tor 
rent;  Kalua  Jcupapau  o  na'lii  —  The  sepulchre  of  the  high  chiefs;  Aina  Tcipi — The  re 
bellious  land. 

LEGEND   OP   KALEIKINI. 

He  was  a  chief  of  the  olden  time. 

On  the  sea-shore,  between  Kaalikii  and  Pohue,  the  waves  were  ingulfed  beneath  the 
land,  and  shot  into  the  air  by  a  natural  aperture  some  fifty  feet  from  the  shore.  The 
water  leaped  to  a  prodigious  height,  disappeared  in  the  form  of  fine  rain,  and  fell  in 
vapor  over  a  circuit  of  two  leagues,  spreading  sterility  over  the  land  to  such  an  extent 
that  neither  kalo  nor  sweet-potatoes  could  be  grown  there.  The  chief  Kaleikini  closed 
the  mouth  of  the  gulf  by  means  of  enormous  stones,  which  he  made  the  natives  roll 
thither.  It  is  plainly  seen  that  this  blow-hole  has  been  closed  by  human  hands.  There 
still  remains  a  little  opening  through  which  the  water  hisses  to  the  height  of  thirty  or 
forty  feet. 

Kaleikini  closed  at  Kohala,  on  the  shore  of  Nailima,  a  volcanic  mouth  like  that  of 
Ka'u. 

On  the  heights  of  Honokane,  he  silenced  the  thunders  of  a  water-fall  by  changing  its 
course.  At  Maui  Hikina,  he  secured  the  foundations  of  the  hill  of  Puuiki,  which  the 
great  tides  had  rendered  unstable.  To  do  this,  he  put  into  the  caverns  of  Puuiki  a  huge 
rock,  which  stopped  the  tumults  of  the  sea,  and  put  an  end  to  the  trembling  of  the  hill. 

For  these  feats  of  strength,  and  many  others  like  them,  Kaleikini  was  called  Kupua 
— Wizard.* 

DOCUMENTS  ON  THE  PROVINCE  OF  PUNA. 

According  to  common  tradition,  the  district  of  Puna  wras,  until  two  centuries  ago,  a 
magnificent  country,  possessing  a  sandy  soil,  it  is  true,  but  one  very  favorable  to  veg 
etation,  and  with  smooth  and  even  roads.  The  Hawaiians  of  our  day  hold  a  tradition 
from  their  ancestors,  that  their  great-grandparents  beheld  the  advent  of  the  volcanic 
floods  in  Puna.  Here,  in  brief,  is  the  tradition  as  it  is  preserved  by  the  natives : 

LEGEND    OF   KELIIKUKU. 

This  high  chief  reigned  in  Puna.  He  journeyed  to  the  island  of  Oahu.  There  he 
met  a  prophet  of  Kauai,  named  Kaneakalau,  who  asked  him  who  he  was.  "  I  am,"  re- 

*  Kaleikini  may  be  considered  the  Hawaiian  Hercules. 


APPENDIX.  243 

plied  the  chief,  "  Keliikuku  of  Puna."  The  prophet  then  asked  him  what  sort  of  a  coun 
try  he  possessed.  The  chief  said :  "  My  country  is  charming ;  ever}7  thing  is  found 
there  in  abundance ;  everywhere  are  sandy  plains  which  produce  marvelously." — "Alas!" 
replied  the  prophet,  "  go,  return  to  your  beautiful  country ;  you  will  find  it  overthrown, 
abominable.  Pele  has  made  of  it  a  heap  of  ruins ;  the  trees  of  the  mountains  have  de 
scended  toward  the  sea  ;  the  ohia  and  pandanus  are  on  the  shore.  Your  country  is  no 
longer  habitable."  The  chief  made  answer :  "  Prophet  of  evil,  if  what  you  now  tell 
me  is  true,  you  shall  live ;  but  if,  when  I  return  to  my  country,  I  prove  the  falsity  of 
your  predictions,  I  will  come  back  on  purpose,  and  you  shall  die  by  my  hand." 

Unable,  in  spite  of  his  incredulity,  to  forget  this  terrible  prophecy,  Keliikuku  set  sail 
for  Hawaii.  He  reached  Hamakua,  and,  landing,  traveled  home  by  short  stages.  From 
the  heights  of  Hilo,  at  the  village  of  Makahanaloa,  he  beheld  in  the  distance  all  his 
province  overwhelmed  in  chaotic  ruin,  a  prey  to  fire  and  smoke.  In  despair,  the  un 
fortunate  chief  hung  himself  on  the  very  spot  where  he  first  discovered  this  sad  spec 
tacle. 

This  tradition  of  the  meeting  of  Keliikuku  and  Kaneakalau  is  still  sometimes  chant 
ed  by  the  Kanakas.  It  was  reduced  to  metre,  and  sung  by  the  ancients.  It  is  passing 
away  in  our  day,  and  in  a  few  years  no  trace  of  it  will  remain. 

Whether  the  prediction  was  made  or  not,  the  fact  is  that  Puna  has  been  ravaged  by 
volcanic  action. 

LEGEND   OF   THE   CHIEF  HTJA. 

The  high  chief  Hua,  being  in  Maui,  said  to  Uluhoomoe,  his  kahuna,  that  he  wished 
for  some  uau  from  the  mountains  (a  large  bird  peculiar  to  the  island  of  Hawaii).  Ulu 
hoomoe  replied  that  there  were  no  uau  in  the  mountains — that  all  the  birds  had  gone 
to  the  sea.  Hua,  getting  angry,  said  to  his  priest:  "If  I  send  my  men  to  the  mount 
ains,  and  they  find  any  uau  there,  I  will  put  you  to  death." 

After  this  menace,  the  chief  ordered  his  servants  to  go  to  bird-hunting.  They  obey 
ed  ;  but  instead  of  going  to  the  mountains  (mau&a),  they  set  snares  on  the  shores  (ma- 
kai),  and  captured  many  birds  of  different  kinds,  among  others  the  uau  and  ulili.  Re 
turning  to  the  palace,  they  assured  the  chief  that  they  had  hunted  in  the  mountains. 

Hua  summoned  his  kahuna,  and  said  to  him:  "There  are  the  birds  from  the  mount 
ains;  you  are  to  die."  Uluhoomoe  smelled  of  the  birds,  and  replied:  "These  birds  do 
not  come  from  the  mountains ;  they  have  an  odor  of  the  sea."  Hua,  supported  by  his 
attendants,  persisted  in  saying,  as  he  believed  truly,  that  they  came  from  the  mountains, 
and  repeated  his  sentence  :  "  You  are  to  die."  Uluhoomoe  responded  :  "  I  shall  have  a 
witness  in  my  favor  if  you  let  me  open  these  birds  in  your  presence."  The  chief  con 
sented,  and  small  fish  were  found  in  the  crops  of  the  birds.  "  Behold  my  witness,"  said 
the  kahuna,  with  a  triumphant  air;  "  these  birds  came  from  the  sea !" 

Hua,  in  confusion,  fell  into  a  terrible  rage,  and  massacred  Uluhoomoe  on  the  spot. 
The  gods  avenged  the  death  of  the  priest  by  sending  a  distressing  famine,  first  on  the 
island  of  Maui,  then  on  Hawaii.  Hua,  thinking  to  baffle  the  divine  vengeance,  went  to 
Hawaii  to  escape  the  scourge ;  but  a  famine  more  terrible  yet  pursued  him  there.  The 
chief  vainly  traversed  every  quarter  of  the  islands;  he  starved  to  death  in  the  temple 
of  Makeanehu  (Kohala).  His  bones,  after  death,  dried  and  shrunk  in  the  rays  of  the 
burning  sun,  to  which  his  dead  body  remained  exposed.  This  is  the  origin  of  the 
Hawaiian  epigram  always  quoted  in  recalling  the  famine  which  occurred  in  the  reign 


244  APPENDIX. 

of  Hua,  an  epigram  which  no  one  has  understood,  and  which  has  never  been  written 
correctly : 

Koele  na  iwi  o  Hua  i  ka  la — The  bones  of  Hua  are,  dry  in  the  sun.* 

On  the  island  of  Hawaii  are  many  places  called  by  the  name  of  this  celebrated  chief. 
At  Kailua,  in  the  hamlet  of  Puaaaekolu,  a  beautiful  field,  known  by  the  name  of  Moo- 
niohua,  recalls  one  episode  of  Hua's  misery.  Here  it  was  that,  one  day,  running  after 
food  which  he  could  never  attain,  he  fell  asleep,  weary  with  fatigue  and  want.  The 
word  Mooniohua  is  probably  a  corruption  of  Hoe  ana  o  Hua — The  couch  of  Hua. 

THE   STORY   AND   SONG  OF   KAWELO. 

Kawelo,  of  the  island  of  Kauai,  was  a  sort  of  giant;  handsome,  well  made,  muscular, 
his  prodigious  strength  defied  animate  and  inanimate  nature.  In  his  early  youth,  he 
felt  a  violent  passion  kindle  in  his  bowels  for  the  Princess  Kaakaukuhimalani,  so  that 
he  sought  in  every  way  to  touch  her  heart.  But  the  princess,  too  proud,  and  too  high 
a  lady,  did  not  deign  to  cast  her  eyes  upon  him. 

Despairing  of  making  her  reciprocate  his  love,  Kawelo  poured  into  his  mother's  bosom 
his  grief  and  his  tears.  "  Mother,"  said  he,  "  how  shall  I  succeed  in  espousing  this  proud 
princess  ?  What  must  I  do  ?  Give  me  your  counsel." 

"My  son,"  replied  his  mother,  "a  youth  who  wishes  to  please  ought  to  make  him 
self  ready  at  labor,  and  skillful  in  fishing;  this  is  the  only  secret  of  making  a  good 
match." 

Kawelo  too  eagerly  followed  his  mother's  advice,  and  soon  there  was  not  on  the  isl 
and  a  more  indefatigable  planter  of  kalo,  nor  a  more  expert  fisherman.  But  what  suc 
ceeds  with  common  women  is  not  always  the  thing  to  charm  the  daughters  of  kings. 
Kaakaukuhimalani  could  make  nothing  of  a  husband  who  was  a  skillful  farmer  or  a 
lucky  fisherman ;  other  talents  are  required  to  touch  the  hearts  of  nobles,  and  hers  re 
mained  indifferent,  insensible  to  the  sighs  of  Kawelo.  Nobles  then,  as  to-day,  regarded 
pleasure  above  all  things;  and  a  good  comedian  was  worth  more  to  them  than  an 
honest  workman. 

In' his  great  perplexity,  Kawelo  consulted  an  old  dancing -master,  who  told  him, 
"  Dancing  and  poetry  are  the  arts  most  esteemed  and  appreciated  by  those  in  power. 
Come  with  me  into  the  mountains.  I  will  instruct  you,  and  if  you  turn  out  an  accom 
plished  dancer,  you  will  have  a  sure  means  of  pleasing  the  insensible  Kaakaukuhimala 
ni."  Kawelo  listened  to  the  advice  of  the  poet  dancing-master,  and  withdrew  into  the 
mountains  to  pursue  his  duties. 

He  soon  became  a  very  skillful  dancer,  and  an  excellent  reciter  of  the  mele ;  so  the 
fame  of  his  skill  was  not  slow  in  extending  through  all  the  valleys  of  the  island. 

One  day  when  Kaakaukuhimalani  desired  to  collect  all  the  accomplished  dancers  of 
Kauai,  her  attendants  spoke  to  her  of  Kawelo  as  a  prodigy  in  the  art,  who  had  not  his 
equal  from  one  end  to  the  other  of  the  group,  from.  Hawaii  to  Niihau.  "  Let  some  one 
bring  me  this  marvel !"  cried  the  princess,  pricked  with  a  lively  curiosity.  The  old  and 
cunning  preceptor  of  the  mountains  directed  his  pupil  not  to  present  himself  at  the  first 
invitation,  in  order  to  make  his  presence  more  ardently  desired.  Kawelo,  understand 
ing  the  value  of  this  advice,  did  not  obey  until  the  third  request ;  he  danced  before  the 

*  The  more  common  form  is,  Koele  na  iwi  o  Hua  ma  i  ka  la — Dry  are  the  bones  of  Hua  and  his 
company  in  the  sun. — Trans. 


APPENDIX.  245 

princess  with  a  skill  so  extraordinary  that  she  fell  in  love  with  him,  and  married  him. 
So  Kawelo  found  himself  raised  to  princely  rank. 

The  happy  parvenu  had  three  older  brothers.  They  were :  Kawelomakainoino,  with 
fierce  look  and  evil  eye ;  Kawelomakahuhu,  with  unpleasant  countenance  and  angry  ex 
pression ;  Kawelomakaoluolu,  with  a  lovable  and  gracious  face.  All  three  were  endued 
with  the  same  athletic  strength  as  their  younger  brother. 

Jealous  of  the  good  fortune  which  a  princely  marriage  had  brought  their  brother, 
they  resolved  to  humble  him  for  their  pleasure.  Taking  advantage  of  the  absence  of 
Kaakaukuhimalani,  they  seized  Kawelo  and  poured  a  calabash  of  poi  over  his  head. 
Poor  Kawelo  !  The  paste  ran  down  from  his  head  over  all  his  body,  and  covered  him 
with  a  sticky  plaster  which  almost  suffocated  him.  Overwhelmed  with  shame  at  having 
to  undergo  so  humiliating  a  punishment,  Kawelo  fancied  that  he  could  no  longer  live 
at  Kauai;  he  determined  to  exile  himself,  and  live  in  Oahu. 

He  had  already  embarked  in  his  canoe  and  prepared  to  set  sail  with  some  faithful 
friends,  when  he  saw  his  wrife  on  the  shore.  Seated  beneath  the  shade  of  a  kou  ( Cordia 
),  Kaakaukuhimalani  waved  her  hand  to  Kawelo,  crying: 


Hoi  mai  Return, 

Hoi  mai  kaua !  Return  with  me ! 

Mai  hele  aku  oe !  Go  not  away  from  me  ! 

Kawelo,  touched  with  love  for  his  wife,  but  immovably  determined  to  leave  his  isl 
and,  chants  his  adieu,  which  forms  the  subject  of  the  first  canto. 

PAH  A  AKAHI.  CANTO  I. 

Aloha  kou  e,  aloha  kou ;  Thou  lovest  me  still !    Oh  yes 

Ke  aloha  mai  kou  ka  hoahele  Thou  lovest  me;  thou, 

I  ka  makani,  i  ka  apaapaa  The  companion  who  hast  followed  me 

Anuu  o  Ahulua.  In  the  tempest  and  in  the  icy 

Moe  iho  nei  au  Winds  of  Ahulua.    I,  alas ! 

I  ka  po  uliuli,  Sleep  in  dark  night,  in  dark 

Po  uliuli  eleele.  And  sombre  night.    My  eyes 

Anapanapa,  alohi  mai  ana  ia'u  Have  seen  the  gleaming  flashes 

Ke  aa  o  Akua  Nunu.  Of  the  face  of  the  god  Nunu. 

Ine  ee  au  e  kui  e  lei  If  I  resist,  I  am  smitten  as  by 

la  kuana  na  aa  kulikuli.  The  thunder-bolts  of  the  deepening  storm. 

Papa  o  hee  ia  nei  lac.  Go,  daughter  of  Papa,  away  from  this 

E  u'alo,  e  u'alo  Headland;  cease  thy  lamentations ; 

Ua  alo  mai  nei  ia'u  Cease  to  beckon  to  me 

Ka  launiu  e  o  peahi  e ;  With  thy  fan  of  cocoa-nut  leaves. 

E  hoi  au  e,  e  hoi  aku.  I  will  come  again.     Depart  thou ! 

On  his  arrival  at  Oahu,  Kawelo  was  well  received  by  the  king  of  that  island,  Kakui- 
hewa,  who  loaded  him  with  favors,  and  even  accorded  him  great  privileges,  to  do  hon 
or  to  his  wonderful  strength.  Kawelo  did  not  forget  himself  in  the  midst  of  the  pleas 
ures  his  strength  procured  him.  He  had  vengeful  thoughts  toward  Kauai  for  the  in 
jury  he  had  received  from  his  brothers.  Retiring  to  a  secluded  place,  and  concealing 
himself  as  much  as  possible  from  the  notice  of  Kakuihewa,  he  secretly  set  about  recruit 
ing  a  small  army  of  devoted  men  for  an  expedition  against  the  island  of  Kauai.  When 
he  had  collected  enough  warriors,  he  put  to  sea  with  a  fleet  of  light  canoes.  Hardly 
had  he  left  the  shore  of  Oahu,  when  the  marine  monster,  Apukohai,  met  him — an  evil 


246 


APPENDIX. 


omen.  He  was  but  the  precursor  of  another  monster,  Uhumakaikai,  who  could  raise 
great  waves  and  capsize  canoes.  The  oldest  sailors  never  fail  to  return  to  land  at  the 
first  appearance  of  Apukohai ;  all  the  pilots  then  advised  Kawelo  to  go  back  with  all 
speed.  But  the  chief,  full  of  determination  which  nothing  could  shake,  would  not 
change  his  course ;  he  persisted  in  sailing  toward  his  destination.  This  is  the  subject 
of  the  second  canto. 


PAHA   ELUA. 

0  ka'u  hoa  no  ia, 

E  hoolulu  ai  maua  i  ka  nahele, 

1  .anehu-  au  me  he  kua  ua  la 
I  oee  au  me  he  wai  la. 

I  haalulu  au  me  he  kikili  la. 

I  anei  wau  me  he  olai  la. 

I  alapa  au  me  he  uila  la. 

I  ahiki  welawela  au  me  he  la  la. 

Melemele  ka  lau  ohia, 

Kupu  a  melemele, 

I  ka  ua  o  na'  pua  eha, 

Eha,  o  na  ole  eha  eha, 

0  na  kaula'  ha  i  ke  kua 

No  paihi,  o  ka  paihi  o  malu. 

A  Haku,  Haku  ai  i  ka  manawa, 

E  Pueo  e  kania, 

Manawai  ka  ua  i  ka  lehua, 

E  hoi  ka  ua  a  ka  maka  o  ka  lehua : 

La  noho  mai ; 

E  hoi  ka  makani 

A  ka  maka  oka  opua 

La  noho  mai 

E  hoi  ke  kai  a  manawai 

Nui  ka  06,  la  noho  mai. 

E  kuu  e  au  i  kuu  wahi  upena 

Ma  kahi  lae : 

E  hei  ka  makani  ia'u. 

E  kuu  e  au  i  kuu  wahi  upena 

Ma  ka'  lua  lae, 

E  hei  ka  ino  ia  'u 

E  kuu  e  au  i  kuu  wahi  upena 

Ma  ke  'kolu  lae, 

E  hei  ke  kona  ia  'u 

E  kuu  e  au  e  kuu  wahi  upena 

Ma  ka'  ha  lae. 

E  hei  luna,  e  hei  lalo, 

E  hei  uka,  e  hei  kai, 

E  hei  Uhumakaikai. 

1  ke  olo  no  Hina, 

E  hina  kohia  i  ka  aa, 
Uhumakaikai. 


CANTO  II. 

I  had  a  friend  with  whom 

I  lived  peacefully  in  the  wilderness. 

I  swung  like  a  cloud  lull  of  rain, 

I  murmured  like  a  rivulet, 

I  shook  like  a  thunder-bolt, 

I  overturned  every  thing  like  an  earthquake, 

I  flashed  as  lightning, 

I  consumed  like  the  sun. 

Yellow  was  the  ohia  leaf; 

Unfolding,  it  turned  yellow 

Under  the  rain  of  the  four  clouds, 

In  the  month  of  the  four  oZe, 

When  the  fisherman,  four  ropes 

Upon  his  back,  enjoyed  calm  and  fair  weather. 

Be  Lord,  be  lord  of  the  weather. 

0  Owl,  whose  cries  give  life ! 

Send  down  the  rain  upon  the  lehua; 

Let  the  rain  come  again  upon 

The  buds  of  the  lehua.    Rest,  0  Sun ! 

Let  the  wind  fly 

Before  the  face  of  the  clouds. 

Rest,  O  Sun  ! 

Return,  O  Ocean  of  the  mighty  waters ; 

Great  is  thy  tumult !     Sun  rest  here. 

Rest,  O  Sun  !     I  will  cast  my  net 

At  the  first  headland ; 

1  shall  catch  the  wind. 
I  will  cast  my  net 

At  the  second  headland; 

I  shall  catch  a  tempest. 

I  will  cast  forth  my  net 

At  the  third  headland ; 

I  shall  get  the  south  wind. 

I  will  cast  forth  my  net 

At  the  fourth  headland; 

I  shall  take  above,  below, 

Land  and  sea— 

I  shall  take  Uhumakaikai. 

At  a  single  word  of  Hina 

He  shall  fall ;  hard  pressed 

Shall  be  the  neck  of  Ukumakaikai. 


In  the  sixteenth  verse  of  this  second  canto  Kawelo  invokes  the  owl,  which  the  Hawaii- 
ans  regarded  as  a  god.  In  extreme  perils,  if  the  owl  made  its  cries  heard,  it  was  a 
sign  of  safety,  as  the  voice  of  this  bird  was  sacred ;  and  more  than  once  has  it  happen- 


APPENDIX. 


247 


ed  that  men,  destined  to  be  immolated  on  the  altar  of  sacrifices  as  expiatory  victims, 
have  escaped  death  merely  because  the  owl  (Pueo)  was  heard  before  the  immolation. 
It  is  easy  to  understand,  after  this,  the  invocation  that  Kawelo  made  to  Pueo  when  he 
found  himself  in  combat  with  the  terrible  Uhumakaikai. 

In  the  third  canto  Kawelo  endeavors  to  destroy  the  monster.  He  commences  by  say 
ing  that  he,  a  chief  (ka  lani),  does  not  disdain  to  work  as  a  simple  fisherman.  Then  he 
pays  a  tribute  to  those  who  have  woven  the  net  he  is  going  to  use  to  capture  the  mon 
ster  of  the  sea.  The  olona  (Bcehmeria),  a  shrub  whose  bark  furnishes  the  Hawaiian.^ 
with  an  excellent  fibre,  was  regarded  as  a  sort  of  deity.  Before  spinning  its  fibres,  they 
made  libations,  and  offered  sacrifices  of  hogs,  fowls,  etc.  Kuwelo  refers  to  all  this  in 
his  song. 


PAHA  EKOLU. 

Huki  kuu  ka  lani 
Keaweavvekaokai  honua, 
Kupu  ola  ua  ulu  ke  opuu. 
Ke  kahi  'ke  olona. 
Kalioekukama  kohi  lani. 
0  kia  ka  piko  o  ke  olona, 
Ihi  a  ka  ill  no  moki  no  lena, 
Ahi  kuni  ka  aala, 
Kunia,  haina,  paia, 
Holea,  hoomoe  ka  Papa, 
Ke  kahi  ke  olona, 
Ke  kau  ko  opua, 
Ke  kea  ka  maawe 
Kau  hae  ka  ilo  ka  uha, 
Ke  kaakalawa  ka  upena : 

0  kuu  aku  i  kai, 

1  kai  a  Papa ;  ua  hina, 
E  hina,  kohia  i  ka  aa 
0  Uhumakaikai. 


CANTO  III. 

I,  a  chief,  willingly 

Cast  my  net  of  olona ; 

The  olona  springs  up,  it  grows, 

It  branches  and  is  cut  down. 

The  paddles  of  the  chief  beat  the  sea. 

Stripped  off  is  the  bark  of  the  alona, 

Peeled  is  the  bark  of  the  yellow  moki. 

The  fire  exhales  a  sweet  odor ; 

The  sacrifice  is  ready. 

The  bark  is  peeled,  the  board*  is  made  ready, 

The  olona  is  carded, 

And  laid  on  the  board. 

"White  is  the  cord, 

The  cord  is  twisted  on  the  thigh, 

Finished  is  the  net ! 

Cast  it  into  the  sea, 

Into  the  sea  of  Papa;  let  him  fall, 

Let  him  fall,  that  I  may  strangle  the  neck 

Of  Uhumakaikai. 


After  having  exterminated  Uhumakaikai,  the  conqueror  sailed  unmolested  toward 
Kauai,  to  defeat  his  other  enemies.  Kawelo  had  on  this  island  two  friends,  who  were 
at  the  same  time  his  relations ;  they  were  the  chiefs  Akahakaloa  and  Aikanaka.  When 
these  chiefs  learned  that  their  cousin  intended  to  return  to  Kauai,  they  enrolled  them 
selves  in  the  ranks  of  his  enemies,  and  prepared  to  make  a  vigorous  resistance  to  his 
landing.  It  was  on  perceiving  their  armies  upon  the  shore  that  Kawelo  commenced 
his  fourth  paha. 


PAHA  EHA. 

0  oe  no  ia,  e  ka  lani  Akahakaloa, 
Kipeapea  kau  ko  ohule  ia 
Kularnanu. 

Konia  kakahakaloa : 

1  kea  a  kau  io  k'awa 
Kiipucaua. 

Hahau  kau  kaua  la. 
E  Aikanaka. 


CANTO  IV. 

Ah!  it  is  then  you,  chief  Akahakaloa. 

A  roosting-place  is  thy  bald  head  become 

For  the  gathering  birds. 

Disobedient  Akahakaloa; 

Thou  appearest  as  a  warrior 

Offshoot  of  Kiipueaua. 

Defeat  has  come  upon  you  in  the 

Day  of  battle,  0  Aikanaka ! 


*  On  which  the  bark  is  beaten  to  make  kapa. 


248 


APPENDIX. 


Kii  ka  pohuli 
E  hoopulapula 
Na  na  na. 
E  naeuaehele  koa 
Kona  aiua. 


You  require  transplanting — 
Yes,  a  nursery  of  warriors — 
You  do;  indeed. 
Unfruitful  of  warriors 
Is  his  country. 


In  the  following  song  Kawelo  exhorts  his  two  old  friends,  Kalaumaki  and  Kaamala- 
ma,  who  had  followed  him  to  Oahu,  to  fight  bravely  in  the  approaching  battle.  The 
return  of  Kawelo  was  expected,  and,  foreseeing  it,  the  islanders  had  taken  advantage  of 
his  absence  to  roll,  or  carry,  to  the  bank  of  the  Wailua  River  immense  quantities  of 
stones.  The  relatives  and  friends  of  Kawelo,  who  had  remained  at  Kauai  during  his 
exile,  had  themselves  assisted  in  these  warlike  preparations,  ignorant  of  their  object. 
It  is  on  beholding  the  hostile  reception  prepared  for  him  that  Kawelo  chants  the  fifth 
song — a  pioclamation  to  his  army. 


PAHA  ELIMA. 

E  Kaamalama, 

E  Kalaumaki, 

E  hooholoia  ka-pohaku ; 

E  kaua  ia  iho  na  waa ; 

He  la,  kaikoonui  nei ; 

Ke  auau  nei  ka  moana ; 

He  kai  paha  nei  kahina  'lii* 

Ua  ku  ka  hau  a  ke  aa ; 

Ke  aim  pohaku 

I  Wailua. 

0  ua  one  maikai  nai 
Ua  malua,  ua  kahawai, 
Ua  pi  ha  i  ka  pohaku 
A  Kauai. 

He  hula  paha  ko  uka 
E  lehulehu  nei. 
He  pahea  la,  he  koi, 
He  koi  la,  he  kukini ; 

1  hee  au  i  ka  nalu,  a  i  aia, 
Paa  ia'u,  a  hele  wale  oukou : 
E  Kaamalama, 

E  Kalaumaki, 

Ka  aina  o  Kauai  la 

Ua  hee. 


CANTO  V. 

O  Kaamalama ! 

0  Kalaumaki ! 

Behold  how  they  heap  stones. 

Let  us  draw  our  canoes  ashore : 

This  is  a  day  when  the  surf  rolls  high  ; 

The  ocean  swells,  the  sea  perchance 

Portends  another  deluge. 

Piles  of  pebbles  are  collected; 

A  heap  of  stones 

Has  the  Wailua  become. 

This  beautiful  sandy  country 

Is  now  full  of  pits  like  the  bed  of  a  torrent : 

And  all  Kauai 

Has  filled  it  with  rocks. 

A  dance  perchance  brings  hither 

This  great  multitude ; 

Games  or  a  race — 

Games  indeed. 

If  I  cast  myself  upon  the  surf, 

1  am  caught :  you  will  go  free. 
O  Kaamalama, 

O  Kalaumaki, 
Fled  is  the  land 
Of  Kauai! 


The  combat  has  commenced.  The  people  of  Kauai  rain  showers  of  stones  upon  the 
landing  troops.  Kawelo,  buried  beneath  a  heap  of  stones,  but  still  alive,  compares  him 
self  to  a  fish  inclosed  on  all  sides  by  nets,  and  then  to  the  victims  offered  in  sacrifices. 
He  then  begins  his  invocations  to  the  gods. 


PAUA  AONO. 
Puni  ke  ekulc  o  kai 
Ua  kaa  i  ka  papau 
Ua  komo  i  ka  ulu  o  ka  lawaia. 
Naha  ke  aa  o  ka  upena, 
Ka  hala  i  ka  ulua. 


CANTO  VI. 

The  ekule  of  the  sea  is  surrounded  ; 
Stranded  in  a  shallow, 
It  is  within  the  grasp  of  the  fisherman. 
Broken  are  the  meshes  of  the  net 
Within  the  hala  and  ulua. 


*  The  Hawaiians  have  a  tradition  of  an  ancient  deluge,  called  Kaiukahinalii. 


APPENDIX. 


249 


Mohaikea. 

Mau  ia  poai  ia  o  kc  kai  uli. 

Halukuluku  ka  pohaku 

A  Kauai  me  he  ua  la. 

Kolokolo  mai  ana  ka  huihui 

Ka  maeele  io'u  lima, 

Na  lima  o  Paikanaka. 

E  Kane  i  ka  pualena, 

E  Ku  lani  ehu  e, 

Kamakanaka ! 

Na'una  Kawelo, 

Na  ko  lawaia. 


A  sacrifice  is  to  be  offered. 

Surrounded  are  the  fish  of  the  blue  sea. 

The  rocks  fall  in  showers — 

A  storm  of  the  stones  of  Kauai. 

The  coldness  of  death  creeps  over  me. 

Numb  are  my  limbs, 

The  limbs  of  Paikanaka. 

O  Kane  of  the  yellow  flower; 

O  Ku,  ruddy  chief; 

Kamakanaka ! 

It  is  I,  Kawelo, 

Thy  fisherman. 


Left  for  dead  beneath  the  heap  of  stones,  Kawelo,  perceiving  his  danger,  continues 
his  prayer. 


PAIIA  EHIKU. 
Ku  ke  Akua 
I  ka  nana  mm. 

0  Lono  ke  akua 

1  kama  Pele. 

0  Hiaka  ke  akua 

1  ka  puukii. 

0  Haulili  ke  akua 

1  ka  lehelehe 

Aumeaume  maua  me  Milu. 
I'au,  ia  ia; 

I'au,  ia  ia; 

I'au  ilio  no : 

Pakele  au,  mai  make  ia  ia. 


CANTO   VII. 

O  divine  Ku, 

Who  beholdest  the  inner  places. 

O  Lono,  divine  one, 

Husband  of  Pele. 

O  holy  Hiaka, 

Dweller  on  the  hills. 

0  Haulili,  god 
Ruling  the  lips ! 

We  two  have  wrestled,  Milu  and 

1  had  the  upper  hand ; 
I  had  the  upper  hand ; 
Then  was  I  beneath  : 

I  escaped,  all  but  killed  by  him. 


PAH  A  EWALU. 

He  opua  la,  he  opua, 

He  opua  hao  walo  keia, 

Ke  maalo  nei  e  ko'u  maka. 

He  mauli  waa  o  Kaamalama. 

Eia  ke  kualau 

Hoko  o  ka  pouli  makani, 

Oe  nei  la,  e  Kaamalama 

Ke  hele  ino  loa  i  ke  ao. 

Ua  palala,  ua  poipu  ka  lani, 

Ua  wehe  kc  aluula  o  ke  alawela, 

He  alanui  ia  o  Kaamalama. 

Oe  mai  no  ma  kai, 

Owau  iho  no  ma  uka; 

E  hee  o  Aikanaka 

I  ke  ahiahi. 

E  u  ka  ilo  la  i  ko'  waha ; 

Ai  na  koa  i  ka  ala  mini. 

Ai  pohaku  ko'  akua. 

Ai  Kanaka  ko  maua  akua. 

Kuakea  ke  poo 

I  ka  pehumu. 

Nakeke  ka  aue  i  ka  iliili. 

Hai  Kaamalama  ia  oe, 


CANTO  VIII. 

Here  is  a  cloud,  there  another. 

This  cloud  bears  destruction  ; 

I  have  seen  it  pass  before  my  eyes. 

The  obscure  cloud  is  the  canoe  of  Kaamalama. 

This  is  the  tempest, 

Wind  in  the  darkness ; 

Thou  art  the  sun,  Kaamalama, 

Rising  clouded  in  the  dawn. 

Dark  and  shaded  are  the  heavens, 

A  warm  day  begins  to  dawn. 

This  is  the  path  of  Kaamalama. 

Thou  art  from  the  sea, 

I,  indeed,  beneath  the  land  mountain. 

Fly,  O  Aikanaka, 

In  the  evening ! 

Maggots  shall  fatten  in  thy  mouth ; 

The  soldiers  eat  the  fragrant  mihi. 

Thy  god  is  a  devourer  of  rocks ; 

Our  god  eats  human  flesh. 

Bleached  shall  be  thy  head 

In  the  earth-oven. 

Thy  broken  jaw  shall  rattle  on  the  beach  pebbles. 

Kaamalama  shall  sacrifice  you, 


250 


APPENDIX. 


Hae'  ke  akua  ulu  ka  niho. 

Kanekapualena ; 

E  Ku  lani  elm  e ; 

Karaakanaka, 

Na'u  na  Kawelo 

Na  ko  lawaia. 


The  god's  tooth  shall  grow  on  the  sacrifice. 
O  Kane  of  the  yellow  flower ; 

0  Ku,  bright  chief; 
Kamakanaka, 

1  am  Kawelo, 
Thy  fisherman. 


In  the  following  canto  Kawelo  reproaches  and  menaces  the  chief  Kaheleha,  who  had 
deserted  him  for  Aikanaka. 


PAHA  AIWA. 

Kulolou  ana  ke  poo  o  ka  opua, 
Ohumuhumu  olelo  ana  ia'u : 
Owau  ka !  ka  ai  o  ka  la  ua. 
E  Kaheleha  o  Puna 
Kuu  keiki  hookama 
Aloha  ole ! 

0  kaua  hoi  no  hoa 
Mai  ka  wa  iki 

1  hoouka'i  kakou 
I  Wailua; 

Lawe  ae  hoi  au,  oleloia : 

Haina  ko'u  make 

la  Kauai. 

E  pono  kaakaa  laau 

Ka  Kawelo. 

Aole  i  iki  i  ka  alo  i  ka  pohaku. 

Aloha  wale  oe  e  Kaheleha 

O  Puna. 

A  pa  nei  ko'poo  i  kalaau, 

Ka  laulaa  o  kuikaa. 

Nanaia  ka  a  ouli  keokeo. 

Papapau  hoa  aloha  wale ! 

Aikanaka  ma, 

Aloha, 

Aloha  i  ka  hei  wale 

O  na  pokii. 


CANTO  IX. 

The  head  of  the  cloud  bears  down 

And  whispers  a  word  in  my  ear : 

It  is  I !  the  food  of  a  rainy  day. 

O  Kahelaha,  of  Puna, 

My  adopted  son, 

Heartless  fellow ! 

We  two  were  comrades 

In  times  of  poverty ; 

In  the  day  of  battle 

We  were  together  at  Wailua. 

It  might  be  said 

My  death  was  proclaimed 

In  Kauai. 

Good  to  look  upon 

Is  the  strength  of  Kawelo. 

He  knows  not  how  to  throw  stones. 

Farewell  to  you,  Kaheleha 

Of  Puna. 

Thy  head  is  split  by  my  spear, 

A  spliced  container ! 

The  whitening  form  is  to  be  seen. 

O  Aikanaka,  loving  only  in  name, 

To  you  and  yours, 

Farewell ! 

Farewell  to  the  ensnared, 

The  youngest  born. 


History  declares,  and  this  ninth  canto  confirms  it,  that  Kaheleha  of  Puna,  Kawelo's 
friend  from  his  youth,  and  one  of  his  powerful  companions  in  arms  at  the  descent  on 
Wailua,  believed  that  Kawelo  was  mortally  wounded  beneath  the  shower  of  stones  that 
had  covered  him,  and  this  belief  had  induced  him  to  go  over  to  the  camp  of  Aikanaka. 
Verses  fourteen  to  sixteen  are  the  words  that  Kawelo  reproaches  Kaheleha  with  saying 
before  his  enemies.  Kaheleha  was  slain  by  the  hand  of  Kawelo  at  the  same  time  with 
Aikanaka. 

PAHA   UMI.  CANTO    X. 

Me  he  ulu  wale  la  Like  a  forest  rising  abruptly 

I  ka  moana,  Out  of  the  ocean, 

O  Kauai  nui  moku  lehua;  Is  Kauai,  with  flowery  lehua; 

Aina  nui  makekau,  Grand  but  ungrateful  land, 

Makamaka  ole  ia  Kawelo.  Without  friends  or  dear  ones  for  Kawelo. 

Ua  make  o  Maihuna  'lii,  They  have  put  to  death  Maihuna, 

Maleia  ka  makuahine;  As  also  Malei,  my  mother. 


APPENDIX. 


251 


Ua  hoolciia  i  ka  pali  nui, 
O  laua  ka!  na  maim 
Kikaha  i  lelepaumu. 
Aloha  mai  o'u  kupuna  : 
O  Au  a  me  Aalohe, 
O  Aua,  a  Aaloa, 
O  Aapoko,  o  Aamahana. 
O  Aapoku  o  Aauopelaea : 
Ua  make  ia  Aikanaka. 


They  have  cast  from  a  great  pali 

Both  of  them  !     Were  they  birds 

To  fly  thus  in  the  air? 

Love  to  you,  oh  my  aneestors : 

To  you,  Au  and  Aaloha, 

To  you,  Aua  and  Aaloa, 

Aapoko  and  Aamahana, 

Aapoku  and  Aauopelaea, 

Who  died  by  the  hand  of  Aikanaka. 


Maihuna  was  the  father  of  Kawelo,  and  Aikanaka  was  his  first  cousin.  The  latter 
put  to  death  all  the  family  of  Kawelo,  after  having  employed  them,  with  the  other  in 
habitants  of  Kauai,  in  collecting  the  stones  which  were  to  repulse  his  cousin.  It  was 
before  the  great  battle  of  Wailua  that  Kawelo's  family  was  put  to  death. 

In  the  last  canto  the  hero  reproaches  his  friends  for  abandoning  him  in  the  day  of 
danger.  At  the  sight  of  his  old  friends,  whose  bodies  he  had  pierced  with  many 
wounds  in  punishment,  he  cries :  "  Where  are  those  miserable  favorites  ?"  He  had 
transfixed  them  with  his  lance — that  lance  made,  he  says,  for  the  day  of  battle. 

He  compares  Aikanaka  to  a  long  lance  because  of  his  power ;  he  reproaches  him  with 
having  betrayed  himself,  who  was  comparatively  but  a  little  lance — a  little  bit  of  wood 
(laau  iki) ;  then  he  ironically  remarks  that  Kauai  is  too  small  an  island  for  his  con 
quered  friends. 


PAHA  UMIKUMAMAKAHI. 

Auhea  iho  nei  la  hoi 

Ua  mau  wahi  hulu  alaala  nei 

Au  i  oo  aku  ai 

I  ka  maka  o  ke  keiki 

A  Maihuna  ? 

He  ihe  no  ka  la  kaua. 

Pau  hewa  ka'u  ia 

Me  kau  ai, 

Pau  hewa  ka  hmihini  ai 

A  ka  moamahi. 

Komo  hewa  ko'u  waa 

Ia  lakou. 

0  lakou  ka !  ka  haalulu 

1  ka  pohaku  i  kaa  nei, 

Uina  aku  la  i  kahakaha  ke  one, 

Kuu  pilikia  i  Honuakaha. 

Makemake  1  ka  laau  nui, 

Haalele  i  kahi  laau  iki. 

He  iki  kahi  kihapai 

Ka  noho  ka !  i  Kauai, 

Iki  i  kalukalu  a  Puna. 

Lilo  Puna  ia  Kaheleha 

Lilo  Kona  ia  Kalaumaki, 

Lilo  Koolau  ia  Makuakeke, 

Lilo  Kohala  ia  Kaamalama, 

Lilo  Hanalei  ia  Kanewahineikialoha. 

Mimihi  ka  hune  o  Kauluiki  ma. 

Aloha  na  pokii  i  ka  hoi  wale. 


CANTO  XI. 

Where  just  now  are  those  chiefs, 

Rebellious  and  weak, 

Whom  the  point  of  the  spear 

Has  transfixed— the  spear  of  the 

Son  of  Maihuna? 

The  spear  made  for  the  day  of  battle. 

Stolen  was  my  fish, 

And  the  vegetable  food — 

Stolen  the  food  raised  by 

The  conqueror. 

Mischievously  did  you 

Sink  my  canoes. 

O  wretches  !  ye  trembled 

When  the  rocks  rolled  .down, 

At  the  noise  they  made  on  the  sand. 

When  I  was  in  danger  at  Honuakaha, 

Ye  who  desire  long  lances 

And  despise  those  that  are  small, 

Too  small  a  place  was  Kauai, 

Your  dwelling ; 

Small  was  the  kalukalu  of  Puna. 

Puna  shall  belong  to  Kaheleeha, 

Kona  to  Kalaumaki, 

Koolau  to  Makuakeke, 

Kohala  to  Kaamalama, 

Hanalei  to  Kanewahineikialoha. 

The  poverty  of  Kauluiki  and  his  friends  grieves 

me. 
Farewell,  little  ones  caught  in  the  net! 


252 


APPENDIX. 


Here  ends  all  that  we  were  able  to  collect  of  this  original  and  very  ancient  poetry. 
Tradition  relates  that  Kawelo  became  king  of  Kauai,  and  reigned  over  that  island  to 
an  advanced  age. 

When  old  age  had  lessened  his  force,  and  weakened  his  power,  his  subjects  seized 
him  and  cast  him  from  the  top  of  a  tremendous  precipice. 


THE  TAEO  PLANT. 


NOTES. 


[Additions  by  the  translator  are  inclosed  in  brackets.] 


(1.)  The  name  of  Alapai  is  not  found  in  the  genealogy  published  by  David  Malo.  Neverthe 
less,  we  have  positive  information  from  our  old  man  and  other  distinguished  natives  that  Alapai  was 
supreme  chief  of  Hawaii  immediately  before  Kalaniopuu. 

(2.)  Poi  is  a  paste  made  of  the  tuberous  root  of  the  kalo  (Colocasia  antiquorum,  var.  esculenta, 
Schott.).  More  than  thirty  varieties  of  kalo  are  cultivated  on  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  most  of  them 
requiring  a  marshy  soil,  but  a  few  will  grow  in  the  dry  earth  of  the  mountains.  The  tubers  of  all 
the  kinds  are  acrid,  except  one,  which  is  so  mild  that  it  may  be  eaten  raw.  After  it  is  freed  from 
acridity  by  baking,  the  kalo  is  pounded  until  reduced  to  a  kind  of  paste  which  is  eaten  cold,  under 
the  name  of  poi.  It  is.  the  principal  food  of  the  natives,  with  whom  it  takes  the  place  of  bread. 
The  kalo  leaves  are  eaten  like  spinach  (Juaii),  and  the  flowers  (spathe  and  spadix),  cooked  in  the 
leaves  of  the  cordyline  (C.  terminalis,  H.  B.  K.),  form  a  most  delicious  dish.  It  is  not  only  as 
poi  that  the  tubers  are  eaten ;  they  are  sliced  and  fried  like  potatoes,  or  baked  whole  upon  hot 
stones.  It  is  in  this  last  form  that  I  have  eaten  them  in  my  expeditions.  A  tuber  which  I  car 
ried  in  my  pocket  has  often  been  my  only  provision  for  the  day. 

In  Algeria,  a  kind  of  kalo  is  cultivated  under  the  name  of  chow  caraibe,  whose  tubers  are  larger, 
but  less  feculent.  [In  China,  smaller  and  much  less  delicately  flavored  tubers  are  common  in  the 
markets.] 

(3.)  The  Hawaiians  have  always  been  epicures  in  the  article  of  dog -meat.  The  kind  they 
raise  for  their  feasts  is  small  and  easily  fatted,  like  pig.  They  are  fed  only  on  vegetables,  espe 
cially  kalo,  to  make  their  flesh  more  tender  and  delicately  flavored.  Sometimes  these  dogs  are  suck 
led  by  the  women  at  the  expense  of  their  infants.  The  ones  that  have  been  thus  fed  at  a  woman's 
breast  are  called  ilio  poll,  and  are  most  esteemed. 

(4.)  The  Kahualii  are  still  genuine  parasites  in  the  Hawaiian  nation.  They  are,  to  use  the  lan 
guage  of  a  Catholic  missionary,  the  Cretans  of  whom  Paul  speaks  :  "  Evil  beasts,  slow  bellies  ;"  a 
race  wholly  in  subjection  to  their  appetite,  living  from  day  to  day,  always  reclining  on  the  mat,  or 
else  riding  horses  furiously ;  having  no  more  serious  occupation  than  to  drink,  eat,  sleep,  dance, 
tell  stories ;  giving  themselves  up,  in  a  word,  to  all  pleasures,  lawful  and  unlawful,  without  scruple 
or  distinction  of  persons.  The  Kahualii  are  very  lazy.  They  are  ashamed  of  honest  labor,  think 
ing  they  would  thus  detract  from  their  rank  as  chiefs.  Islanders  of  this  caste  are  almost  never 
seen  in  the  service  of  Europeans.  When  their  patron,  the  high  chief  of  the  family,  has  made  them 
feel  the  weight  of  his  displeasure,  these  inferior  chiefs  become  notoriously  miserable,  worse  than 
the  lowest  of  the  Kanakas  (generic  name  of  the  natives).  * 

(5).  [Kamehameha  IV.  and  V.  were  only  noble  through  their  mother,  Kinau,  the  wife  of  Ke- 
kuanaoa.  They  were  adopted  by  Kamehameha  III.  (Kauikeaouli).] 

(6.)  The  old  historian  Namiki,  an  intelligent  man,  and  well  versed  in  the  secrets  of  Hawaiian 
antiquity,  has  left  precious  unedited  documents,  which  have  fallen  into  our  hands.  His  son,  Kui- 
kauai,  a  school-master  at  Kailua,  one  of  the  true  historico-sacerdotal  race,  has  given  us  a  genealo 
gy  of  his  ancestors  which  ascends  without  break  to  Paao. 

(7.)  A  tradition  exists,  mentioned  by  Jarves,  that  Paao  landed  at  Kohoukapu  before  the  reign 


054  NOTES  TO  APPENDIX. 

of  Umi.  According  to  the  same  author,  Paao  was  not  a  Kanaka,  but  a  man  of  the  Caucasian 
race.  However  this  may  be,  every  one  agrees  that  Paao  was  a  foreigner,  and  a  naauao  (scholar ; 
literally,  a  man  with  enlightened  entrails,  the  Hawaiians  placing  the  mind  and  affections  in  the 
bowels). 

(8).  Hina,  according  to  tradition,  brought  into  the  world  several  sons,  who  dug  the  palis  of 
Hulaana.  It  may  be  asked  whether  Hina,  which  means  a  fall,  does  not  indicate  a  deluge  (Kaia- 
kahinalii  of  the  Hawaiians),  or  some  sort  of  cataclysm,  and  whether  the  islanders  have  not  person 
ified  events. 

(9.)  It  is,  however,  improbable  that  there  were  ever  genuine  sorcerers  among  the  Hawaiians, 
in  the  sense  that  word  has  among  Christians.  It  may  have  happened,  and  indeed  it  happens  ev 
ery  day,  that  people  die  after  the  machinations  of  the  kahuna-anaana ;  but  it  is  more  reasonable  to 
refer  these  tragical  deaths  to  the  use  of  poison,  than  to  attribute  them  to  the  incantations  of  the 
sorcerers.  It  is  moreover  known  that  there  are  on  the  group  many  poisons  furnished  by  trees,  by 
shrubs  and  sea-weeds ;  and  the  kahuna-anaana  understood  perfectly  these  vegetable  poisons.  The 
many  known  examples  of  their  criminal  use  inclines  us  to  believe  that  these  kahuna  were  rather 
poisoners  than  magicians.  [Kalaipahoa,  the  poison-god,  was  believed  to  have  been  carved  out  of 
a  very  poisonous  wood,  a  few  chips  of  which  would  cause  death  when  mixed  with  the  food.] 

(10.)  During  the  summer  of  the  year  1852,  while  I  was  exploring  the  island  of  Kauai,  I  was 
near  being  the  victim,  under  remarkable  circumstances,  of  an  old  kahuna  named  Lilihae.  I  was 
then  residing  under  the  humble  roof  of  the  Mission  at  Moloaa.  Lilihae  had  been  baptized,  and 
professed  Christianity,  although  it  was  well  known  that  he  clung  to  the  worship  of  his  gods.  He 
was  introduced  to  me  by  the  missionaries  as  a  man  who,  by  his  memory  and  profession,  could  add 
to  my  historical  notes.  I  indeed  obtained  from  him  most  precious  material,  and  in  a  moment  of 
good  nature  the  old  man  even  confided  to  me  the  secret  of  certain  prayers  that  the  priests  alone 
should  know.  I  wrote  down  several  formulas  at  his  dictation,  only  promising  to  divulge  nothing 
before  his  death.  The  old  man  evidently  considered  himself  perjured,  for  after  his  revelations  he 
came  no  more  to  see  me. 

Some  days  had  passed  after  our  last  interview,  and  I  thought  no  more  of  him.  All  at  once  1 
lost  my  appetite  and  fell  sick.  I  could  eat  nothing  without  experiencing  a  nausea,  followed  imme 
diately  by  continual  vomiting.  Two  missionaries  and  my  French  servant,  who  partook  of  my  food, 
exhibited  almost  the  same  symptoms.  Not  suspecting  the  true  cause  of  these  ailments,  I  attrib 
uted  them  to  climate  and  the  locality,  and  especially  to  the  pestilent  winds  which  had  brought  an 
epidemic  ophthalmia  among  the  natives.  Things  remained  in  this  condition  a  fortnight  without 
improvement,  when  one  morning  at  breakfast  a  marmalade  of  bananas  was  served.  I  had  hardly 
touched  it  to  my  lips  when  the  nausea  returned  with  greater  violence ;  I  could  eat  nothing,  and 
soon  a  salivation  came  on  which  lasted  several  hours.  In  the  mean  while  a  poor  Breton  who  had 
established  himself  on  the  island  some  years  ago,  and  had  conformed  to  savage  life,  came  to  see 
me.  Bananas  were  scarce  in  the  neighborhood,  and  he  found  that  I  had  a  large  supply  of  them, 
and  I  offered  him  a  bunch.  Fortin,  it  was  his  name,  on  his  way  back  to  his  cabin  with  my  pres 
ent,  broke  a  banana  off  the  bunch  and  commenced  to  eat  it.  He  felt  under  his  tooth  a  hard  sub 
stance,  which  he  caught  in  his  hand.  To  his  great  surprise,  it  was  a  sort  of  blue  and  white  stone. 
He  soon  felt  ill,  and  fortunately  was  able  to  vomit  what  he  had  swallowed.  Furious,  and  accusing 
me  of  a  criminal  intention,  he1  returned  to  my  quarters  to  demand  an  explanation.  I  examined  the 
substance  taken  from  the  banana,  and  found  that  it  was  blue  vitriol  and  corrosive  sublimate.  The 
presence  of  such  substances  in  a  banana  was  far  from  natural.  I  took  other  bunches  of  my  supply, 
and  found  in  several  bananas  the  same  poisons,  which  had  been  skillfully  introduced  under  the  skin. 
After  some  inquiries  I  found,  from  Fortin's  own  wife,  that  similar  drugs  had  been  sometimes  seen 
in  the  hands  of  Lilihae,  who  had  bought  them  of  a  druggist  in  Honolulu  for  the  treatment  of  syph 
ilis.  The  riddle  was  at  once  completely  solved.  A  few  days  passed,  and  Lilihae  killed  himself  by 
poison,  convinced  that  all  his  attempts  could  not  kill  me.  In  his  native  superstition,  he  was  satis 
fied  that  the  gods  would  not  forgive  his  indiscretion,  since  they  withheld  from  him  the  power  of 
taking  my  life ;  and  he  could  devise  no  simpler  way  to  escape  their  anger,  and  the  vengeance  of 
my  own  God,  than  to  take  himself  the  poison  against  which  J  had  rebelled.  It  was  discovered  that 


NOTES  TO  APPENDIX  255 

Lilihae  had,  in' the  first  place,  tried  native  poisons  on  me,  and  finding  them  ineffective,  he  thought 
that  my  foreign  nature  might  require  exotic  poisons,  which  he  had  accordingly  served  in  the  ba- 
naiias  destined  for  my  table.  He  went,  without  my  knowledge,  into  the  cook-house  where  my  na 
tive  servants  kept  my  provisions,  and,  under  pretext  of  chatting  with  them,  found  means  to  poison 
my  food.  The  unfortunate  kahuna  died  fully  persuaded  that  I  was  a  more  powerful  sorcerer  than 
he.  It  was  to  be  feared  that,  when  he  discovered  his  impotency,  he  would  intrust  the  execution 
of  his  designs  to  his  fellows,  as  is  common  among  sorcerers ;  but  his  suicide  fortunately  removed 
this  sword  of  Damocles  which  hung  over  my  head. 

(11.)  At  the  present  day,  useless  old  men  are  no  longer  destroyed,  nor  are  the  children,  whom 
venereal  diseases  have  rendered  very  rare,  suffocated  ;  but  they  do  eat  lice,  fleas,  and  grasshop 
pers.  Flies  inspire  the  same  disgust,  and  the  women  still  give  their  breasts  to  dogs,  pigs,  and 
young  kids. 

(12.)  [This  operation  is  certainly  still  practiced  extensively,  if  not  universally;  and  the  ancient 
form  of  kahiomaka.  or  slitting  the  prepuce,  has  given  way,  generally,  to  the  okipoepoe,  or  the  com 
plete  removal  of  the  foreskin.  The  operation  in  a  case  that  came  under  my  notice  on  the  island 
of  Oahu  was  performed  with  a  bamboo,  and  attended  with  a  feast  and  rejoicings ;  the  subject  was 
about  nine  years  old.] 

(13.)  The  islanders,  who  admire  and  honor  great  eaters,  have  generally  stomachs  of  a  prodigious 
capacity.  Here  is  an  example  :  To  compensate  my  servants,  some  seven  in  number,  for  the  hard 
ships  I  had  made  them  endure  on  Manna  Kea,  I  presented  them  with  an  ox  that  weighed  five 
hundred  pounds  uncooked.  They  killed  him  in  the  morning,  and  the  next  evening  there  was  not 
a  morsel  left.  One  will  be  less  astonished  at  this  when  I  say  that  these  ogres,  when  completely" 
stuffed,  promote  vomitings  by  introducing  their  fingers  into  their  throats,  and  return  again  to  the 
charge.  [It  is  equally  true  that  the  Kanakas  will  go  for  a  long  time  without  much  food,  and  it 
can  not  be  said  they  are  a  race  of  gluttons.] 

(14.)  Awa  {Piper  methysticurn)  grows  spontaneously  in  the  mountains  of  the  Hawaiian  group. 
The  natives  formerly  cultivated  it  largely  [and  since  the  removal  of  the  strict  prohibition  on  its 
culture  fields  are  not  uncommon].  From  the  roots  the  natives  prepare  a  very  warm  and  slightly 
narcotic  intoxicating  drink.  It  is  made  thus :  women  chew  the  roots,  and  having  well  masticated 
them,  spit  them,  well  charged  with  saliva,  into  a  calabash  used  for  the  purpose.  They  add  a  small 
portion  of  water,  and  press  the  juice  from  the  chewed  roots  by  squeezing  them  in  their  hands. 
This  done,  the  liquid  is  strained  through  cocoa-nut  fibres  to  separate  all  the  woody  particles  it  mav 
contain,  and  the  awa  is  in  a  drinkable  state.  The  quantity  drunk  by  each  person  varies  from  a 
quarter  to  half  a  litre  (two  to  four  gills).  This  liquor  is  taken  just  before  supper,  or  immediately 
after.  The  taste  is  very  nauseous,  disagreeable  to  the  last  degree.  One  would  suppose  he  was 
drinking  thick  dish-water  of  a  greenish-yellow  color.  But  its  effects  are  particularly  pleasant.  An 
irresistible  sleep  seizes  you,  and  lasts  twelve,  twenty-four  hours,  or  even  more,  according  to  the 
dose,  and  the  temperament  of  the  individual.  Delicious  dreams  charm  this  long  torpor. 

Often  when  the  dose  is  too  great  or  too  small,  sleep  does  not  follow ;  but  in  its  place  an  intoxi 
cation,  accompanied  by  fantastic  ideas,  and  a  strong  desire  to  skip  about,  although  one  can  not  for 
a  moment  balance  himself  on  his  legs.  I  felt  these  last  symptoms  for  sixtv  hours  the  first  time  I 
tasted  this  Polynesian  liquor.  The  effects  of  a\va  on  the  constitution  of  habitual  drinkers  are  dis 
astrous.  The  body  becomes  emaciated,  and  the  skin  is  covered,  as  in  leprosy,  with  large  scales, 
which  fall  off,  and  leave  lasting  white  spots,  which  often  become  ulcers; 

(15.)  This  usage  still  exists  in  certain  families  toward  great  personages  or  people  they  wish  es 
pecially  to  honor ;  but  it  is  disappearing  every  day.  Formerly  when  a  Kanaka  received  a  visit 
from  a  friend  of  a  remote  district,  women  were  always  comprised  in  the  exchange  of  presents  on 
that  occasion.  To  fail  in  this  was  regarded  as  an  unpardonable  insult.  The  thing  was  so  in 
wrought  in  their  customs,  that  the  wife  of  the  visitor  did  not  wait  the  order  of  her  husband  to  sur 
render  her  person  to  her  host. 


256 


NOTES  TO  APPENDIX. 


(16.)  [Liliha  was  the  wife  of  Boki,  governor  of  Oahu  under  Kamehameha  II.] 

(17.)  The  most  curious  thing  which  attracts  the  traveler's  eye  in  the  ruins  of  the  temples  built 
by  Umi  is  the  existence  of  a  mosaic  pavement,  in  the  form  of  a  regular  cross,  which  extends 
throughout  the  whole  length  and  breadth  of  the  inclosure.  This  symbol  is  not  found  in  monu 
ments  anterior  to  this  king,  nor  in  those  of  later  times.  One  can  not  help  seeing  in  this  an  evi 
dence  of  the  influence  of  the  two  shipwrecked  white  men  whose  advent  we  have  referred  to.  Can 
we  not  conclude,  from  the  existence  of  these  Christian  emblems,  that  about  the  time  when  the  great 
Umi  filled  the  group  with  his  name,  the  Spanish  or  Portuguese  shipwrecked  persons  endeavored 
to  introduce  the  worship  of  Christ  to  these  islands?  Kama  of  Waihopua  (Ka'u)  has  given  us, 
through  Napi,  an  explanation  of  the  four  compartments  observed  in  the  temple  of  Umi,  represented 
by  the  following  figure ;  but  if  we  accept  this  explanation  of  Kama,  it  is  as  difficult  to  understand 


Place  of  the  god  Kaili. 

Place  of  the  god  Ku. 

Place  of  the  priest  Lono. 

Place  of  the  chief  Urai. 

why  this  peculiarity  is  observed  in  the  monuments  of  Umi,  and  not  in  any  other  heiau :  as,  for 
example,  Kupalaha,  situated  in  the  territory  of  Makapala ;  Mokini,  at  Puuepa :  Aiaikamahina, 
toward  the  sea  at  Kukuipahu  ;  Kuupapaulau,  inland  at  Kukuipahu-mauka.  The  remains  of  these 
four  remarkable  temples  are  found  in  the  district  of  Kohala.  Not  the  least  vestige  of  the  crucial 
division  is  to  be  seen.  The  god  Kaili  [see  the  first  page  of  the  Appendix],  a  word  which  means 
a  theft,  was  not  known  before  the  time  of  Umi.  [The  temple  of  Iliiliopae,  at  the  mouth  of  Ma- 
pulehu  Valley,  on  Molokai,  is  divided  as  in  the  diagram,  and  the  same  is  true  of  many  other  heiau ; 
and  as  it  seems  to  have  been  the  usual  form,  it  is  not  probable  that  the  form  of  the  cross  had  any 
thing  to  do  with  it.] 

(18.)  It  does  not  seem  improbable  that  a  premature  death  removed  the  foreigner  wrho  could  have 
given  Umi  the  idea  of  an  art  until  then  unknown ;  and  had  the  foreigner  lived  longer,  these  curious 
stones  would  have  served  to  build  an  edifice  of  which  the  native  architects  knew  not  the  propor 
tions. 

(19.)  [The  cities  of  Refuge  were  a  remarkable  feature  of  Hawaiian  antiquity.  There  were  two 
of  these  Pahonua  on  Hawaii.  The  one  at  Honaunau,  as  measured  by  Rev.  W.  Ellis,  was  seven 
hundred  and  fifteen  feet  in  length  and  four  hundred  and  four  feet  wide.  Its  walls  were  twelve 
feet  high  and  fifteen  feet  thick,  formerly  surmounted  by  huge  images,  which  stood  four  rods  apart, 
on  their  whole  circuit.  Within  this  inclosure  were  three  large  heiau,  one  of  which  was  a  solid 
truncated  pyramid  of  stone  one  hundred  and  twenty-six  feet  by  sixty,  and  ten  feet  high.  Several 
masses  of  rock  weighing  several  tons  are  found  in  the  walls  some  six  feet  from  the  ground. 
During  war  they  were  the  refuge  of  all  non-combatants.  A  white  flag  was  displayed  at  such 
times  a  short  distance  from  the  walls,  and  here  all  refugees  were  safe  from  the  pursuing  conquer 
ors.  After  a  short  period  they  might  return  unmolested  to  their  homes,  the  divine  protection  of 
Keawe,  the  tutelary  deity,  still  continuing  with  them.] 


THE  END. 


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